This documentary traces the careers of cinematographers László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond. These lifelong friends are Hungarian expatriates who had been studying cinematography in Hungary and defected following the 1956 Soviet invasion. Coincidentally, they also photographed many of the tumultuous events during the invasion.
Cut off from their homeland, they decide to go to America and as refugees struggle in the underbelly of Hollywood for ten years finally breaking into the mainstream with their pivotal contribution to cinema in films like Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Paper Moon, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Scarecrow, Frances, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Deer Hunter.
The documentary chronicles their careers with numerous clips and testimonials from Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Tatum O’Neal, Sharon Stone and Barbra Streisand and others.
However, their profound friendship forged in adversity is perhaps the greater story: Two Heroes. One Road.

 

James Chressanthis (ASC, GSC)

is a Greek-American cinematographer and director of more than twenty feature films, television movies and over two hundred hours of drama including: The Family, American Horror Story: Freak Show, The Watsons Go To Birmingham, additional photography on the Oscar®-winning Chicago and the Cannes premier No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos. He was nominated for an Emmy® three times for Four Minutes, Life with Judy Garland and No Subtitles Necessary. His first film portrayed struggling shepherds of an isolated Greek mountain village from the end of winter to the summer harvest. He portrays their economic hardship today in both art and film.