Éva Gardós is an award-winning film director and editor born in Hungary. Francis Ford Coppola gave Gardós her first job in film, working as a production assistant on Coppola’s epic Apocalypse Now in the Philippines. “That was my film school.” She went on to establish a career as a film editor (Valley Girl, Mask, Bastard Out of Carolina), working with distinguished directors such as Barbet Schroeder, Peter Bogdanovich, and Anjelica Huston.

Éva’s screenwriting and feature film directorial debut, An American Rhapsody starring a young Scarlett Johansson, is based on the true life events of Éva’s family escaping from Hungary in the 1950s and being forced to leave their infant child (Éva) behind. Éva spent six years in Hungary with foster parents before rejoining her biological parents in America. The film won many prizes on the Festival Circuit and was released by Paramount Classics. 

After discovering the bestselling Hungarian novel, Budapest Noir, she returned to Hungary to develop and direct the film version. "After making Rhapsody, a very personal story, I was excited by the idea of making a genre film with suspense and action." Set in 1936, when Hungary was on the verge of embracing fascism, the film resonates with the politics of today. It premiered at the Chicago Film Festival and has played at many other festivals, such as Palm Springs, Denver, and Shanghai. 

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Among her current projects is Cindy in Iraq, inspired by the true-life events of Cindy Morgan, a truck driver from Arkansas who, having fallen on hard times, left her home and children to work as a contractor for KBR Halliburton during the height of the Iraqi war.