One of the world's great cinematographers, Lajos Koltai has closely collaborated on all of the most recent films of Hungary's internationally known director Istvan Szabo including the Oscar-winning Mephisto, the epic Sunshine with Ralph Fiennes, and the Oscar-nominated Being Julia with Annette Bening. With Fateless, an adaptation of Hungary's Nobel Prize-winning writer Imre Kertesz's debut 1975 novel, Koltai finally makes his directorial debut. Fateless chronicles Kertesz' autobiographical experience as a 14-year-old in 1944 Budapest who was rounded up by the Nazis - even though the war was known to be virtually unwinnable - and sent to Auschwitz. Because Koltai insisted on filming chronologically so when the production was halted for four months until new financing could be found, Fateless got a boon as the young teenage lead was found to have grown several inches -- giving new gravity to the film's ending. Fateless is, like its maker, a testament to artful determination and a clear vision.