Sándor Lifka (Brasov, 30.5.1880 – Subotica, 12.11.1952) was the owner of a travelling cinema, of a permanent cinema and a cinematographer. He was the youngest son of Ernestine Tychay and Carl Johan Lifka, the owners of an exhibition of wax figures and of a moving museum. After seeing the first film projections in his youth, he made a decision together with his brothers Carl Fridrich and Rudolf to continue the business of their parents. They made their own tents and visited many towns around the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the early 20th century, and beyond, showing documentaries and feature films, educational programs, but also making their own films. He was a colleague of Uránia Scientific Theatre from Budapest. He won numerous awards for his quality performances, among which there are two awards from the Provincial Exhibition organised in Pécs in 1907. On 1st November 1911, he launched his cinema Lifka together with his brother Rudolf and his mother, in Hotel Hungária in Subotica. During World War I, he was recruited and sent to Galicia where, according to his own words, he made several films. After being wounded, he worked in the department of the military journal Filmkriegspresse in Vienna, and then in Baden as an operator of the main staff of the Austro-Hungarian army. After returning to Subotica, he sold the cinema, but he continued to work in it. He married Erzsébet Beck and they founded the Orient film dd. distribution company, which operated until the beginning of the thirties of the 20th century. After that, he was the owner of a shop, selling electrical goods and radios.
Mirko Grlica
Bibliography:
Mirko Grlica (2011/a): Subotički dani gospodina Aleksa. In: Aleksandar Saša Erdeljanović i Mirko Grlica (ed.): Lifka i Lifke. Otvoreni univerzitet Subotica,Jugoslovenska kinoteka Beograd. Subotica, 11-46.