{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{eastern name order|Vas Robert}} '''Robert Vas''' (''Vas Róbert''; 3 March 1931, [[Budapest]] &ndash; 10 April 1978) was a Hungarian [[film director]] who settled in England. He came to England after the Hungarian uprising in 1956. He was committed to documentary, like ''Refuge England'' (1959) and, after a short period working for the [[National Coal Board]], he went on to make a seminal series of films for the BBC. These include ''The Golden Years of [[Alexander Korda]]'' (1968) and ''Heart of Britain'' (1970), ''The Issue Should be Avoided'' (1971), ''My Homeland'' (1976), a three-hour examination of the life of [[Joseph Stalin]] (1973), and ''Nine Days in '26'' (1974). He had planned to make films about the ''[[Gulag Archipelago]]'' and the wartime bombing of [[Dresden]] before his untimely death on 10 April 1978.<ref>Gömöri György - Tisztelt Szerkesztőség! www.es.hu 2003. máj. 2. "... ahol Hochhuth ürügyén írtam erről, illetve Vas Róbert tragikus körülmények között, fiatalon meghalt, londoni magyar filmrendező (úgy emlékszem, 1975-ben készített) dokumentumfilmjét, amit annak idején a BBC sugárzott."</ref>

In the BBC documentary tribute to Vas directed by [[Barrie Gavin]], [[Karel Reisz]] said of him that his aim was to "inspire thought, to remind and warn".

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== *[[John Burgan|Burgan, John]] “Robert Vas”, Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film, ed. Ian Aitken, Routledge, New York, 2006, pp.&nbsp;958–959 * Davies, Brenda, 'Obituary', BFI News, n. 34, July 1978, p.&nbsp;3. * [[Barrie Gavin]] and Alan Rosenthal, 'Witness: In Memoriam, Robert Vas', ''Sight and Sound'', Summer 1978 pp.&nbsp;186–189 * {{YouTube|id=5QV5ScoFpAY|title="Robert Vas Film-Maker"}} (BBC, broadcast 3/5/1978, Barrie Gavin) *[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/452750/index.html Screenonline: Vas, Robert (1931-1978)] BFI online guide to Britain's film & TV history

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vas, Robert}} [[Category:1931 births]] [[Category:1978 deaths]] [[Category:Film people from Budapest]] [[Category:Hungarian expatriates in England]] [[Category:Hungarian film directors]]