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Press Release
Australian Documentary About The American Dream Screening At Leading Universities Across America
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My America, a provocative and whimsical documentary exploring what America means to millions of people around the world as seen through the eyes of an Australian Gen Y filmmaker, is engaging large audiences at some of America’s leading universities.
From LA to New York, San Francisco to Chicago and New Orleans, My America is challenging audiences to listen to the opinions and problems, the hopes and the dreams of ordinary people affected by the global superpower in different corners of the world. The film described by Variety Magazine as “polished, well paced” and “poignant” explores America’s role at home and abroad in the 21st century.
According to Variety’s review, ”Aussie documaker Peter Hegedus literally puts himself on the psychiatrist's couch in "My America," a stimulating chronicle of his search for the America he loved while growing up in socialist Hungary and suburban Brisbane”.
The 33 year-old filmmaker has produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including a film short-listed for an Academy Award but My America, made with producers Jane Jeffes and Trish Lake, has been the most ambitious so far.
Growing up in Soviet Hungary, Hegedus found his escape from a troubled childhood in Hollywood films. For him the America on the big screen was a happy safe place defended by strong heroes who made the world a better place. When the Berlin Wall came down, the family to the east coast of Australia but Peter continued to dream of America until events of the early 21st century undermined his certainty.
It was the election of Barack Obama in November 2008 that inspired the then 32-year-old to embark on a journey across the world and across the United States asking ordinary people to tell the new President what they wanted from him and from America: how they hoped America might help change their lives for the better. From the steps of the Sydney Opera House to the streets of Iran and China, from refugees in Africa to America’s own displaced and homeless on LA’s Skid Row, Peter was moved by the dreams, hopes and stories of survival that complete strangers shared with him and which in turn became their personal messages to the President.
“It was crazily ambitious to think I could carry the world’s hopes, dreams and fears to the US President but the more people invited me into their lives and trusted me with their stories, the more I felt a real moral obligation to deliver and to ensure the President paid attention to what they had to say. So many people I met had neither the freedom of expression nor the freedom of movement to believe their voices could ever be heard so it became beholden on me to meet the President or to make enough noise that he might watch the film and hear their voices. It is surprising how many people around the world believe that the US and its President offer them hope. My dream is that he might reply to them.”
As the journey unfolds, Hegedus finds parallels between the spectrum of emotions he feels about America and the emotions of the people he meets around the world: waivering between anger and mistrust and admiration and hope for the future.
“Whether Iran, Kenya, Hungary or China, or LA’s Skid Row in LA or the town of Greenwood, South Carolina, I felt that for better or worse America had touched the lives of so many people as deeply and as powerfully as it has touched mine”.
A powerful mix of personal video messages, political interviews, news archival footage and unique animation, the film intertwines the personal and political, weaving Peter’s own story through the lives of those he meets and the issues the film tackles.
As the US heads into its next Presidential election, audiences inside and outside America are finding that My America sparks a debate about America’s domestic and international role and responsibilities, which anyone can join in. By travelling the film across America, the filmmakers are inviting US audiences to participate in that debate.
The film can be seen in the following venues:
April 2nd 2012 7pm Rollins College, Orlando
Bush Science Center Auditorium
April 4th 2012 American University, Washington DC
Wechsler Theatre
Mary Grayson Center
School of Communication
http://centerforsocialmedia.org/making-your-media-matter/events/my-america
April 9th 2012 9am Lander University
320 Stanley Avenue; Greenwood, SC 29649
April 9th 2012 7pm Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Carswell 111
Annenberg Forum
April 10th 2012 7pm UWM Film Department, Milwaukee
Mitchell Hall Room B-91
3203 N. Downer Avenue
Milwaukee
Hosted by Jessica Farrell and Production Club members
April 11th 2012 6pm Columbia University, Chicago
Room 504
1104 S. Wabash
April 12th 2012 6pm Las Vegas University
4505 S. Maryland Parkway
Flora Dungan Humanities Building
Screenings can be booked at www.myamericathemovie.com, or like Peter’s travels on http://www.facebook.com/My.America.The.Movie
From LA to New York, San Francisco to Chicago and New Orleans, My America is challenging audiences to listen to the opinions and problems, the hopes and the dreams of ordinary people affected by the global superpower in different corners of the world. The film described by Variety Magazine as “polished, well paced” and “poignant” explores America’s role at home and abroad in the 21st century.
According to Variety’s review, ”Aussie documaker Peter Hegedus literally puts himself on the psychiatrist's couch in "My America," a stimulating chronicle of his search for the America he loved while growing up in socialist Hungary and suburban Brisbane”.
The 33 year-old filmmaker has produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including a film short-listed for an Academy Award but My America, made with producers Jane Jeffes and Trish Lake, has been the most ambitious so far.
Growing up in Soviet Hungary, Hegedus found his escape from a troubled childhood in Hollywood films. For him the America on the big screen was a happy safe place defended by strong heroes who made the world a better place. When the Berlin Wall came down, the family to the east coast of Australia but Peter continued to dream of America until events of the early 21st century undermined his certainty.
It was the election of Barack Obama in November 2008 that inspired the then 32-year-old to embark on a journey across the world and across the United States asking ordinary people to tell the new President what they wanted from him and from America: how they hoped America might help change their lives for the better. From the steps of the Sydney Opera House to the streets of Iran and China, from refugees in Africa to America’s own displaced and homeless on LA’s Skid Row, Peter was moved by the dreams, hopes and stories of survival that complete strangers shared with him and which in turn became their personal messages to the President.
“It was crazily ambitious to think I could carry the world’s hopes, dreams and fears to the US President but the more people invited me into their lives and trusted me with their stories, the more I felt a real moral obligation to deliver and to ensure the President paid attention to what they had to say. So many people I met had neither the freedom of expression nor the freedom of movement to believe their voices could ever be heard so it became beholden on me to meet the President or to make enough noise that he might watch the film and hear their voices. It is surprising how many people around the world believe that the US and its President offer them hope. My dream is that he might reply to them.”
As the journey unfolds, Hegedus finds parallels between the spectrum of emotions he feels about America and the emotions of the people he meets around the world: waivering between anger and mistrust and admiration and hope for the future.
“Whether Iran, Kenya, Hungary or China, or LA’s Skid Row in LA or the town of Greenwood, South Carolina, I felt that for better or worse America had touched the lives of so many people as deeply and as powerfully as it has touched mine”.
A powerful mix of personal video messages, political interviews, news archival footage and unique animation, the film intertwines the personal and political, weaving Peter’s own story through the lives of those he meets and the issues the film tackles.
As the US heads into its next Presidential election, audiences inside and outside America are finding that My America sparks a debate about America’s domestic and international role and responsibilities, which anyone can join in. By travelling the film across America, the filmmakers are inviting US audiences to participate in that debate.
The film can be seen in the following venues:
April 2nd 2012 7pm Rollins College, Orlando
Bush Science Center Auditorium
April 4th 2012 American University, Washington DC
Wechsler Theatre
Mary Grayson Center
School of Communication
http://centerforsocialmedia.org/making-your-media-matter/events/my-america
April 9th 2012 9am Lander University
320 Stanley Avenue; Greenwood, SC 29649
April 9th 2012 7pm Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Carswell 111
Annenberg Forum
April 10th 2012 7pm UWM Film Department, Milwaukee
Mitchell Hall Room B-91
3203 N. Downer Avenue
Milwaukee
Hosted by Jessica Farrell and Production Club members
April 11th 2012 6pm Columbia University, Chicago
Room 504
1104 S. Wabash
April 12th 2012 6pm Las Vegas University
4505 S. Maryland Parkway
Flora Dungan Humanities Building
Screenings can be booked at www.myamericathemovie.com, or like Peter’s travels on http://www.facebook.com/My.America.The.Movie