{{Short description|American-born Swiss film director, film editor and concert pianist}} {{Infobox person | name = June Kovach | image = June_Kovach_Swiss_film_director.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1932 | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = October 30, 2010 | death_place = Zürich, Switzerland | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = Concert pianist, film director | spouse = {{ill|Alexander Seiler|de}} | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''June Kovach''' (1932 – October 30, 2010) was an American-born Swiss film director, film editor and concert pianist. She was a concert pianist until 1961 when she took to working on documentary films.
==Life== Kovach was born in 1932 in Chicago to parents who came from Hungary.<ref>{{Cite web|title=June Kovach|url=https://www.solothurnerfilmtage.ch/de/cinema-suisse/filmschaffende/june-kovach|access-date=2021-06-11|website=57. Solothurner Filmtage|language=de}}</ref> Her skills and training made her into a concert pianist. Her concert career started in 1949 and in 1951 she won the piano prize given each year by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation.<ref name="naum">{{Cite web|title=Previous Winners|url=https://naumburg.org/previous-winners|access-date=2021-06-11|website=naumburg.org}}</ref> Her concert career took her to the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.<ref name=swissf>{{Cite web|title=SWISS FILMS: June Kovach|url=https://www.swissfilms.ch/de/information_publications/festival_search/festivaldetails/-/id_person/1B1C3424B30E42CCA805AB887CD94897|access-date=2021-06-11|website=www.swissfilms.ch}}</ref> From 1961 she put aside concerts and she began to work as a film director with her husband, {{ill|Alexander Seiler|de}}. He and {{ill|Rob Gnant|de}} had created the ''Seiler + Gnant'' film production company in 1960.<ref name=bfi>{{Cite web|title=Seiler + Gnant|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b971de1fc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611175533/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b971de1fc|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 11, 2021|access-date=2021-06-11|website=BFI|language=en}}</ref> In 1963 their film ''In Changing Gradients'' won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963. Rob Gnant and her husband were credited as directors and Kovach was the editor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Filmpodium: In wechselndem Gefälle|url=https://www.filmpodium.ch/film/160618/in-wechselndem-gefaelle|access-date=2021-06-11|website=www.filmpodium.ch|language=de-ch}}</ref>
She worked with Rob Gnant and her husband to create the documentary film ''Siamo Italiano'' which in 1964 highlighted the discrimination experienced by Italian workers in Switzerland. She co-directed, edited, and wrote the film as well as being the sound engineer. Three years later the trio created another documentary ''The Music Festival''.<ref name=swissf/>
In 2003 she was sole director of the film ''Black Flowers - Gretler's Panoptikum'' which tells the story of Gretler, a farmer, who was about to retire when he realizes that something strange has occurred when all the flowers in his fields turn black.<ref name=blackf>{{Cite web|title=SWISS FILMS: Schwarze Blumen|url=https://www.swissfilms.ch/de/film_search/filmdetails/-/id_film/1DA1EBB370A8487798AAD022AB6AA495|access-date=2021-06-11|website=www.swissfilms.ch}}</ref>
Kovach died in Zürich in 2010.
==Selected works== :1964: Siamo Italiani - The Italians - Documentary, 86 min. By June Kovach, Alexander J. Seiler and Rob Gnant<ref name=swissf/> :1966: During the year :1967: Music competition - documentary film, 72 min. By June Kovach, Alexander J. Seiler and Rob Gnant<ref name=swissf/> :1967: … via Zurich - documentary, by June Kovach, Alexander J. Seiler and Rob Gnant :1968: Fifteen - documentary, 21 min. By June Kovach, Alexander J. Seiler and Rob Gnant :1974: Whoever Lies Once or Viktor and Upbringing - Documentary, 68 min. :1981: Lust or Gutknecht's Dream - 58 min. :1995: Honeyland - Documentary :2003: Black Flowers - Gretler's Panoptikum<ref name=blackf/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovach, June}} Category:1932 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Film people from Chicago Category:Musicians from Chicago Category:Swiss film directors Category:American pianists