Biography

Ilona Kolonits (17th of March 1922 - 2nd of August 2002), documentary film director and international news correspondent, was born in Budapest, Hungary on the 17th of March 1922. A young girl herself rescued many children destined to be deported and killed in the Natzi's concentration camps. Alongside with her mother, Paolina Kolonits and sisters Ilona Kolonits was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations title by Yom HaShoah in 2007.

Ilona Kolonits shot over 500 newsreels and directed over one hundred documentary, popular science and sport films, of which 17 received international and six national Hungarian film awards.

Ilona Kolonits' films promoted causes of world peace and humanitarianism. She often portrayed minority groups and women and was in particular concerned with the cause of children whose lives were distraught by war. One of her most outstanding cinematic achievements is the short film 'Eroica' (1975), which portrays the impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of Vietnamese women and children. In 1955 she started a several decades-long series of documentary films entitled 'Birthday' which followed the the annual school reunions of women, this way a personal, feminine view of a generation of women. In her 1988 film 'You Like Horses, Don't You?' Ilona Kolonits addressed issues related to animal rights.
- IMDb mini biography by: Katica Kocsis - refernce Ilonka Kolonits on Wikipedia, Yad Vashem