Along with artists such as Istvan Szabo and Pal Gabor, Istvan Gaal was a leading member of the 'Hungarian New Wave' in the 1960s. The son of an electrician, the 1933 born Gaal worked briefly as a labourer and technician to please his father before embarking on his career as a filmmaker.
While at Budapest's Academy of Theatre and Cinematography during the 1956 revolution, Gaal made his diploma film Polyamunkasok / Surfacemen (1957), the first of his several award-winning shorts.
Gaal's first full-length festure Sodrasban / Current (1964) won praise for its austere, sensitive treatment of young students. The film was the first of an unofficial trilogy that explored peasant culture and was followed by Zordar/ The Green Years (1965) and Baptism (1967).
