It wouldn’t be difficult to write a short synopsis of cinematographer-director and associate professor Emil Novák’s career. You’ll find everything you need for a good story, from a promising career start to defection, to professional fulfillment. These life situations have one thing in common: the constant departure from known roads into the unknown which is led by the hope of discovering something new.

Children swarm in a primary school in Budapest. The footsteps of the teacher can be heard from down the corridor, but no one is running to their seats, as they usually do at the end of the break; a camera is rolling. Their classmate Emil Novák, aged 14, is trying out his first camera while capturing the outrage of his fellow students as the break is over. Little did he know at the time that these two things, the camera, and school, would be the cornerstones of his future.

Novák got involved in Hungarian cultural life at a young age, thanks to his musician brother János Novák, who would often drop in after concerts at their family home on Csengery Street with his fellow musicians, where their mother was always eager to meet the great artists of the future. Novák first started working as a photographer on productions of Miklós Jancsó and László Gyurkó’s 25th Theatre, among others, while also capturing other performances, including Tamás Cseh’s concerts. So it’s not surprising that his name often appears under pictures of Miklós Jancsó, Géza Bereményi, Tamás Cseh, or Mari Törőcsik, nor that his first 8 mm film was shown to his friends at the residency of Márta Mészáros and Miklós Jancsó.

In 1974 Novák was preparing for his admission to the College of Theatre and Film Arts (predecessor of the University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest SZFE), so he started working at Mafilm’s film factory in Róna Street as a laboratory technician. There he got acquainted with the work phases around the camera: he worked in the picture department, the trick department, and the camera warehouse. It was during this time that he was introduced to the exciting world of filming, and as an apprentice, he learned the profession alongside some of the finest assistant cameramen of the day. In 1978, he was enrolled at the college, where he began his studies in the class of György Illés, Tibor Vagyóczky, and Béla Bojkovszky. His college years were productive and full of success, his documentary Glass Light won the Grand Prize at the first European College Festival in Munich in 1981, and his graduation film Magic Moments was awarded the Most Interesting Feature Film at the 2nd Munich Film Festival in 1982, and (after graduating from the college) he won the Special Jury Prize at the VIII Henri Langlois International Film Festival in 1984. After completing his studies, he returned to Mafilm and two years later defected to Australia, fleeing from the constraints of the cultural elite and political repression of the time. 

Both of these factors left their mark on his life in Hungary, as he did not always follow the path that the profession or even politics would have expected of him. He had to start everything all over again in a foreign environment. His journey eventually led him to Sydney, where he obtained a BA diploma in Cinematography at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). From then on he was constantly employed in the Australian film industry for many years and was accepted as a member of the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) in 1991.

In 2002 he moved back to Hungary and a few years later in 2004, he founded the Golden Eye Cinematographer Festival, which he renamed with Béla „Richy” Romwalter to László Kovács-Zsigmond Vilmos Cinematographer Competition in 2018. Since then they held award ceremonies yearly to reward Hungarian cinematographers for their outstanding achievements. But it’s not only the Hungarian cultural life to which he has returned since he settled back down in Hungary, he has also entered a new stage in his professional career.

In the early 2000s, Novák set out his most important goal: to preserve the history, development, and educational traditions of the Hungarian film industry, and to train generations of professionals who are up to date with technological developments and fully equipped so they can meet the needs of the industry.

When he took up a position as a consultant at the Stern Film Studio & Media Center, he conceived the idea of a vocational training school. The design of this school was based on his own experience and studies of educational materials of schools around the world. Then, in 2006 he founded the H.S.C. Hungarian School of Cinematographers within the framework of the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers (HSC), with the agreement of his former mentor György Illés. Over the past two decades, the school has been training crew professionals ever since and more than 800 students have completed the year-long training, most of whom have successfully continued their studies in Hungarian film education or found employment in the Hungarian film industry.

In 2014, the Hungarian Film Academy Association was founded as the eighteenth film academy in Europe, of which he is a founding member, the first president, and currently the Executive Director. In his work in the association, he can also pursue his goal of promoting the long-term development of Hungarian cinema and the film industry, among other things. On 1 September 2020, SZFE’s operating model was changed which led to the resignation of the Acting Rector and the entire Senate of the university. At the end of 2020, Novák was asked to become the Acting Vice-Rector of SZFE, since the resignations would have led to the dissolution of the university. During his one-year mandate, the biggest developments in the university’s 150-year history were completed, with the final phase of a virtual studio project.

In March 2024, a virtual studio was completed at the university, creating an educational infrastructure unique not just in Europe but in the world. The eighteen-month investment has resulted in the installation of a 120 square meter LED wall and a complete studio, which will allow future students and participants of master classes to learn one of the latest technologies in the cinematographic industry in state-of-the-art conditions. The development is the largest investment ever made by the university, which has provided SZFE with equipment worth around 800-900 million Hungarian Forints, including an ARRI ALEXA MINI LF camera. The development was carried out under the professional coordination of Emil Novák at the Zsigmond Vilmos Institute of Cinematic Arts, where he was once a student of cinematography.

Since 2020, he has taught at the Vilmos Zsigmond Zsigmond Institute of Cinematography as an associate professor (Cinematography; Photography, the Basics of Exposure; General Cinematography and the Use of Cinematography Tools, and Outstanding Cinematographers). In 2023, the university published his book titled The History of the Hungarian Cinematography School, in which he tells the story of the world-famous Hungarian cinematography school with the help of material collected over the past fifty years and interviews with colleagues and film professionals.