In 1969, he wrote his debut as a screenwriter at the age of 14 and soon after screenplay for seven-part serial fairy tales "Fairy Tales from Old Forest" (co-author Juraj Bernáth for STV Košice). He then went on to study film directing at All States Institute (now
Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography) in Moscow under
Roman Karmen. is after his grandfather, art carpenter Eduard Kalmáry. E. Kalmáry was a chief manager of water sawmill in
Remetské Hámre, East Slovakia, owned by the Vanderbilt family. He directed and wrote scenarios for
Film Studio Koliba, Slovak Television () and
Dude on the Road starring Peter Kočiš. His work includes full feature films, TV plays, TV series, documentaries, educational movies and
cartoons. Since the nineties, Makara's work has focused on human rights and anti-drug multi-media campaigns. His project "Toleration" (1995–1996) was dedicated to the
Pope John Paul II and was screened on Slovak Television during his first visit in
post-communist Slovakia. He was one of the first Slovak artists to be invited to work with
MTV. This was the start of a charitable
anti-drug campaign. (1997–2008), supported by the Ministry of Education of Slovak Republic and funded by the Slovak Antidrug Fund. The campaign informed children and young adults about the danger of drugs via 13 antidrug spots "Stop to drugs - Just say no!" In 2004, Makara initiated the project
Gypsies Come To Town which was meant to be one of the first soap operas about
Romani and aimed to challenge widespread prejudices that see Romani either as thieves or a
welfare burden. His father, Štefan Makara was a painter, journalist and script editor for Slovak Television (Slovenská televízia). His sister Saša Makarová is a painter living in Vienna, Austria. ==References==