The Hungarian Congress
November
28–30, 2008, Crowne Plaza Cleveland City
Centre Hotel
welcomes from
Oakland, California, writer &
independent filmmaker:
George Paul Csicsery
and cordially invites you, and everyone interested
in films and filmmaking to meet and talk with Mr.
Csicsery in person at all of the following events:
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2008, 6th floor, 2-4 pm
FREE ENTRANCE: WORKSHOP WITH GEORGE PAUL CSICSERY featuring an elaboration on the uses of an ethnographic film to further the interest of cultural groups, its feasibility, its audience, and what sort of subjects lend themselves to films, what is involved in becoming a documentary film producer (including the career path, contacts, problems, the financial aspects, and the work of various levels of production), and “pure” filmmaking versus television productions.
SHOWN AS PART OF FRIDAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOP:
Songs Along a Stony Road, a onehour documentary intercutting musical performances, the stories in the songs, and personal histories about the musicians discovered by Transylvanian ethnomusicologist Zoltán Kallós, who became these musicians’ “guardian angel.” As Csicsery tells us, “I am looking for a way to depict and preserve pieces of a vanishing heritage. With Hungary and Romania now very much a part of the global economy and culture, the people, music, and even the regional dialects used in the film, are fast receding into the past. I hope to capture some of it for posterity before it disappears.” Filmed in Transylvania during 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2006 with co-producer Chris Teerink of the Netherlands, the project was supported by ArtsLink CEC, National Geographic’s All Roads Film initiative, and by the Nederlands Thuiskopie Fonds. A fine cut of the film was screened as part of National Geographic’s Tuesdays at Noon series in Washington, D.C., on August 26, 2008.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 29, 8:30 p.m. Grand ballroom, 6th floor, $6 donation at the door: Troop 214 (1997),
Englishlanguage version premier, about the irrepressible nature and revival of the Hungarian Scout movement, compared to the once popular Communist Pioneers youth organization, featuring Gábor Bodár past, Executive Director of the Hungarian Scout organization, and participants of the 1995 Jamboree camp. (Followed by question-answer discussion with audience participation.
GEORGE PAUL CSICSERY, writer & independent filmmaker has directed 26 films-dramatic shorts, performance films and documentaries, and is the author or co-author of four feature-length screenplays. His two most recent works are both on mathematical themes. For example, Hard Problems: The Road to the World’s Toughest Math Contest, premiered in January 2008. The documentary is about American high school students who participated in the 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Csicsery also directed N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdös (1993), about an eccentric wandering mathematician, and which was broadcast on Duna-TV, Hungary (1995),. The film is currently playing on PBS stations. More information about George Csicsery’s films can be found at www.zalafilms.com