Andrew G. Vajna(1944-2019)
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Andy Vajna was born in Budapest. In 1956 at the age of 12, he fled from Hungary and with the support of Red Cross he made his way alone to Canada. Vajna launched his career in the entertainment industry with his purchase of motion picture theaters in the Far East. He founded Panasia Films Limited in Hong Kong in 1976. Vajna met with Mario Kassar at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, then he and Kassar formed Carolco.
In 1982, Vajna was a founder and then president of the American Film Marketing Association. During that same year, Vajna and Kassar made their film production debut.
In December 1989, Vajna sold all his interest in Carolco and formed Cinergi Productions, Inc. to engage in the financing, development, production and distribution of major event motion pictures. As part of its business plan, Cinergi has formed an alliance with The Walt Disney Company for distribution of Cinergi motion pictures in the United States, Canada and Latin America.
Vajna has never forgotten his Hungarian roots and always tried to help the Hungarian film industry. He also actively participated in the distribution of Motion Pictures in Hungary eventually having a 70% share of the Hungarian box office.
In 1989 Vajna founded InterCom that has become a market leader and a distributor of many Hollywood studios, including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Disney and MGM.
In 2002 he founded Digic Pictures in Hungary which is a high-end animation studio.
Since 2011 Andrew G. Vajna has been working as Government Commissioner in charge of the Hungarian film industry. In the same year he conceived Hungarian National Film Fund with the mission to contribute to the production of Hungarian films or co-productions that provide art and entertainment for moviegoers and bring significant success both domestically and on an international level. Under the Vajna era Hungarian movies financed by the Hungarian National Film Fund won altogether more than 130 international awards (including a Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film) while the number of foreign films produced in Hungary increased significantly.
