The one and only Oscar winner Hungarian director to date (2006). He received the award for his 1981 movie Mephisto. In January 2006 it has become public that he was an agent of the III/III department, a formal communist agency of interior intelligence. After the revolution in 1956 he was blackmailed and forced to cooperate, though later he was considered willingly cooperative. He wrote reports about fellow Hungarian directors, actors and actresses like Miklós Jancsó, Mari Töröcsik, Károly Mécs. An acknowledged Hungarian journalist Zsolt Bayer has told the followings upon this: "This is the time to re-watch Mephisto. It is just become obvious that he directed his own in the movie. Masterfully." He recognized the charges immediately, and considered his agent-work heroic and needful, claiming he has saved the life of a friend sentenced to death for his involvement in the revolution of 1956.
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986. Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1985.