Éva Medgyessy’s volume, Széles Anna: Az örök Anikó, will be launched on Thursday, May 25, at 5 pm, at the upstairs foyer of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj. The host of the event will be András Visky, who will converse with Anna Széles and Éva Medgyessy.

The volume published under the auspices of the Polis Publishing House offers a review of the acting career of Anna Széles, a unique such path in the theatrical and film history of 1960-1990s Transylvania, Romania and Hungary alike.

Between 1965-1989, Anna Széles was a member of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, later moving to Hungary, where she continued her acting career in Budapest. During her university years, she had been already cast in award winning Romanian movies praised at international film festivals, and then became a television personality within the Hungarian programs of the Romanian national television in Bucharest, later acting in several films in Hungary.

The volume is the combination of three overlapping and mutually complementary threads. On one hand, the actress recounts stories of her life and career. On the other hand, theatre historian and writer Éva Medgyessy comments on the social, political and artistic background of the actress’s life and career, from the standpoint of a specialist, and also, of someone who has witnessed firsthand this brilliant acting career as it unfolded. Finally, the third layer of the volume cites the newspaper articles, and reports documenting the film and theatrical events, and performances of the time. A worthy addition of the book is represented by the rich visual material, photographs, together with rare illustrations, which makes reference to the fellow actors of the time, as well as the artistic approach relevant for that age both in film and theatre.