Hungarian-born, Montreal-based photographer Gabor Szilasi is in his nineties; he has been capturing and sharing the world around him in remarkable social realist images since acquiring his first camera in 1949. The words charming, irreverent, and inspired describe both Gabor the artist and Gabor the film, as director Joannie Lafrenière profiles the photographer in a wonderfully mannered and candy-colored series of vignettes chronicling their friendly rendezvous and interviews. 

In equal parts appreciation and celebration, the film explores Gabor’s life and work with fitting visual panache and an ebullient soundtrack—belying the photographer’s early hardships, much as the buoyant artist himself does. As an interview subject in the film states, Gabor’s photographs are “filled with kindness and humor,” and the same can be said for this winsome documentary that commemorates the artist and his life.  TM 

Filmmaker Q&A available

Closed captioning available

This film is only available to viewers in the United States