Vortex, a film by Csaba Szekeres and John Oates, 2010, will be shown on Thursday, Jan. 23, at 7 p.m., at the UTC University Center in the Raccoon Mountain Room. This event is free and open to the public.
It is part of the 2014 UTC Visual History Film Series Eastern Europe in Transition. The film is 76 minutes in length, in Hungarian with English subtitles. This event is sponsored by the UTC Department of History.
“Filmed over a period of six months, this social documentary feature film shows the lives of Roma families in a small village in Hajdu-Bihar county, North-east Hungary, near the Romania border. Unemployment is close to 100% in this community, and the isolation, poverty and discrimination against Roma create a situation in which families find it hard to live decent lives.
The film focuses on the experiences of three families, and the hardships and setbacks they faced over this period. Problems having to do with illness, poor living conditions, lack of basic amenities and even house collapse are combined with the fear of children being taken into care. Along with the ever-present challenges of finding enough food, and wood to heat their homes, hope is hard to find. The solutions are not simple or easy, and the local services struggle to find ways to help these people out of their desperate plights.”
Upcoming films in the UTC series include Rocking the Nation, a film by Bori Kriza, 2007, to be shown Monday, February 3, at 6 p.m. in the UTC University Center, Raccoon Mountain Room and Inkubator, a film by Réka Pigniczky, 2009, on Thursday, March 27, 7 p.m. in the UTC University Center, Raccoon Mountain Room.
For more information see the UTC History Department’s Facebook page or call Dr. John C. Swanson at 423 425-4563 or email John-Swanson@utc.edu.