Peter Hegedus

Peter's filmmaking career spans close to 20 years. He has been making films since the age of 17. His critically acclaimed films have won numerous awards around the world and been broadcast in many countries. Peter's work is characterized by a commitment to social justice, be they documentary or drama.

In 1998 at the age of 21, he embarked on Grandfathers and Revolutions, a one hour documentary about his grandfather, the Prime Minister of Hungary who called in the Soviet troops to quash the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. The film established Peter as an international documentary filmmaker.

After starting his production company Soul Vision Films Pty Ltd, Peter made Inheritance, a fisherman's story based around an ecological disaster that occurred in Hungary in 2000. The film was short listed for the 2004 Academy Awards and won an additional seven awards around the world including Grand Prizes at the Global Peace Festival.

In 2011 working on two unique stories for two different broadcasters, Peter completed two feature documentaries: My America which premiered at the Sydney Film Festival and was broadcast around the world. The Trouble With St Mary's – broadcast on the ABC was about a rebel priest who sacked by the Catholic Church for unorthodox practices.

Since 2013 Peter has been working at Griffith Film School in Brisbane. In 2023, he is the Deputy Director for Research & Engagement at the School which is now the biggest film School of its kind in Australia. Peter continues to participate in panel discussions and forums around the world concerning international financing, documentary ethics and directing.

Peter's other films include Éva a short documentary about Éva Fahidi a Holocaust survivor's passionate perspective on the refugee crisis in Europe. He also co-directed Strudel Sisters a short documentary selected for Hot Docs International Film Festival as well as the Sydney Film Festival. Notably, both of these documentaries, Éva and Strudel Sisters, were nominated at the St Kilda Film Festival for best documentary. Strudel Sisters later won the 2016 Devour! Golden Tine Award for Best Short Documentary.

In 2018, Peter completed the feature documentary Lili a co-production between Hungary and Australia about a young woman who abandoned her two year old daughter in 1956 setting off a cycle of abandonment in her family over three generations.

In 2022, his film In Their Name was broadcast on ABC TV. It is part of a unique suite of films that also include Sorella's Story an immersive VR360 narrative short film, and a feature documentary, To Never Forget.

Filmography

	INHERITANCE, A FISHERMAN'S STORY » INHERITANCE, A FISHERMAN'S STORY follows Balazs Meszaros' passionate struggle to gain compensation for his fellow fishermen for the loss of income and livelihood incurred by the cyanide spill that devastated the River Tisza in Hungary in January 2000...
	LILI (English version) » WINNER! Best Documentary, Hungarian Film Critics Award. Nominated for BEST DIRECTOR of a Documentary Feature, Australian Directors' Guild Awards, 2020...
	LILI (Hungarian version) » Az Ausztráliában élő 84 éves Lili történetét ismerhetjük meg a filmben, aki a saját és családja életét alapvetően meghatározó traumákat hordoz magában...
	IN THEIR NAME » December 1941: a group of women and a 10-year-old girl named Sorella Epstein are photographed after being ordered to take their outer clothing off in freezing temperatures...