Pál Schiffer, Cséplő Gyuri (1978)
Film Screening and Discussion
Pál Schiffer’s documentary Cséplő Gyuri (1978) is the coming-of-age story of an ambitious gypsy boy, in which the amateur protagonist acts out the events of his own life. The boy, having graduated only two grades in elementary school, wants to break out of the slum, and moves from Németfalu in Zala County to Budapest in search of a secure livelihood. He works honestly, studies, and goes through the same calvary as most gypsies in the city. He learns about poverty and prejudice among Hungarian workers in a brick factory. Eventually he goes home, missing his friends, but he realizes that he can no longer live in the conditions of his segregated village. The film is an example of the Budapest School’s so-called situational documentary filmmaking.
The pre-screening discussion will be led by Péter Szuhay, ethnographer, writer, and filmmaker.
The program is in Hungarian.
The film screening is an accompanying event of the conference Poverty Revisited. Conference in Memoriam István Kemény.