Crew

Director, Producer, DOP and Editor of THE GREAT PARRANDA – Stories About Gabriel García Márquez.

I am a videographer and a musician (bandoneonist). I live in Europe (Hungary). I made hundreds of videos of different kinds during the last 15 years, but this is my first feature documentary and it has a special place in my life. It all began in 2013, or maybe years before, when I read García Márquez’s novels or when I first took a step on Latin American land. But definitely my passion about the culture of this continent and the desire to visit Gabo’s Macondo and above all the journalism scholarship I won to Colombia by Fundación Gabo drove me on a path that changed so many things in my life and that finally lead me towards this movie and to you, dear visitor, who landed on this page of The Great Parranda/La Gran Parranda. 

It took me 6,5 years to finish this documentary, that became a kind of pilgrimage for me. I went back to Colombia three times, alone. My budget came from my savings and my family’s and friend’s donations. There were times when I almost lost faith in myself and the whole work but in those crucial moments there was always something or somebody (including myself) who helped me through difficulties. So I learned that if you are devoted, if you put your heart and soul and all your knowledge into what you do, no matter how insane it seems sometimes, you always win. And you get help. And you succeed.  My story is also in the film. I started shooting, because I wanted to share that special atmosphere that I entered in 2013, with people who don’t have the chance to experience it and with those who are also drawn to Gabriel García Márquez’s world. 

János Másik composed the soundtrack of the film and also contributed with artistic consulting in the last 1,5 years of the editing process.

János Másik is a versatile artist who excels in several musical genres and instruments should he perform alone or with fellow musicians and compose for ensembles or orchestras. He also writes poetry and paints/draws. He composed music for over 40 movies, both Hungarians and international ones. His soundtrack for The Great Parranda deeply connects to Latin-America, but also keeps the necessary distance from it so that it could lift the whole story to a different level. It was amazing to experience the process of how his music supported the narrative and at how it brought together that big parranda that became The Great Parranda.