Martin Helstáb

Martin Helstáb (born March 23, 1995) is a Hungarian film director, visual artist, and composer. His animated short films gained international recognition, followed by his 2021 experimental feature film Zazongpari. His works usually operate with absurd humor, themed after the connection of humans and animals or monsters, presented in surreal scenes.
He made his short films in Hungarian language, then in his feature film he changed to English. His films have been shown in several film festivals worldwide, Decent Hoggery (2023) was premiered at the 63rd Zlín Film Festival.
==Early life and education==
Martin Helstáb was born in Pécs, Hungary on 23 March 1995. He attended Martyn Ferenc Art School for 13 years, where he gained his interdisciplinary fine art basics. The art scool was founded by Ferenc Lantos painter, who developed unique a method of art education focusing on interdisciplinarity and creation related to the understanding of natural structures. This established Helstáb's interest in natural science and the animal world. His goal was to become a zoologist, so from 2013 he attended biology (BSc) at the University of Pécs. He participated researches in the field of behavioral ecology, but after two semesters he dropped out due to his first screenwriting successes on environmental film contests.
In 2016 he graduated in Television Production (HND) from the University of Pécs, and in 2020 in Film and Media Studies (BA) from the University of Kaposvár. He attended the class of Sándor Csoma and David Borbás film directors. In 2017 he founded his own animation studio, creating commercial and educational video and graphic works.
In 2022 he graduated as a Documentary Film Director (MFA) at the University of Pécs. He attended the class of Péter Lichter, experimental film director and film theorist.
In 2023 he gained his fourth college degree as a Teacher of Design and Visual Arts (MA) from the University of Pécs.
==Filmmaking career==
Since 2014 after winning a national competition in screenwriting, he created several short films with various themes and techniques. He made live action experimental films like The mouse who wanted to be a mouse (2015) or Flat Frogs (2017). He directed animated filmes like Bug's Breakfast (2016), Mucus (2017) and Carry on Dying (2018). He shot documentaries such as Much-Much Paint (2018) and My Dreams Answer (2022). Helstáb created and starred in (mixed technique) live action films like Feast of the Condor (2020) and his feature film Zazongpari (2021).
He worked on Zazongpari for 5 years, shot it in a greenscreen studio in his parents' garage. He gained 10 kilogrammes of muscle to build the physique to play the protagonist Scavanger Monk in his movie. The film contains several fighting sequences which roots from Martin Helstáb's training in Kashima Shinden Jikishin Kage-ryu kenjutsu by grandmaster Suzuki Kimiyoshi. The story follows a monk - played by Helstáb - on his quest through an enchanted forest, fighting ghosts and monsters along the way.
He created an animated short film from 2022 to 2023 called Decent Hoggery in which he also plays a key role, along with his partner, Eszter Zsigrai fine artist. The film resembles his earlier dialogue-based animal starred animated shorts, but in this work he used more experimental techniques, like animating scanned bacon or rotoscoping a dream sequence. Decent Hoggery was shown at the Innsbruck Nature Film Festival and premiered at the Zlín Film Festival where critics praised it for the politically incorrect humor.
In 2023, Martin Helstáb resided at Malta, continuing his artistic work on the southern European island.
==Filmography==
===Feature films===
*The Combination Lock (2014) - video production
*Zazongpari (2021)
===Short films===
*Mucus (2017)
*Flat Frogs (2017)
*Much-Much Paint (2018)
*My Dreams Answer (2022)
*Decent Hoggery (2023)
==Exhibitions==
===Group exhibitions===
*2002 - Disciples of the Martyn Ferenc Art School, Library of Pécs, Pécs
*2007 - Connections, Basement system, Pécs
*2009 - Lantos 80, Parti Gallery, Pécs
*2012 - Art Residents's Exhibition, Cultural Center, Balatonberény
*2012 - Olympics through students' eyes, Sports Museum of Hungary, Budapest
*2015 - Hommage á Lantos, House of Arts, Pécs
*2018 - The world is wide..., Knowledge Center, Pécs
*2019 - Vad Art, Anker't, Budapest
*2019 - Bauhaus Up!, Rippl Gallery, Kaposvár
*2022 - #RIPPLPortre, Rippl Gallery, Kaposvár
Category:1995 births
Category:People from Pécs
Category:Hungarian people
Category:Film directors
Category:Visual artists
Category:Composers