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THE RESTLESS HUNGARIAN Synopsis:
Director Tom Weidlinger retraces his famous father Paul Weidlinger’s footsteps across the globe, from his early childhood in Budapest to founding an internationally renowned structural engineering firm in the United States. Paul Weidlinger collaborated with some of the world’s most famous architects and artists to create brilliant, innovative buildings influenced by Bauhaus and modernist design and based on his own philosophy of the “Joy of Space,” inspired by dance. Told through hand-drawn sketches, archival footage, photographs, letters, paintings, songs and dramatic reenactments, this documentary paints a vivid portrait of the challenges Paul Weidlinger overcame as a refugee who fled Europe for Bolivia and ultimately the US during the Holocaust. While celebrating his accomplishments and legacy, Weidlinger grapples with his father’s involvement in the Cold War building missile siloes as well as the history of mental illness in his family, particularly the tragic stories of his mother, sister and nephew. Few know that Paul Weidlinger founded his own engineering firm to afford the cost of the mental institution where his first wife had been committed. With readings from his memoir, The Restless Hungarian: Modernism, Madness, and the American Dream, Tom Weidlinger powerfully uncovers his father’s secrets.
The Jewish Film Institute champions bold films and filmmakers that expand and evolve the Jewish story for audiences everywhere. As the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF), the world’s first and most revered event for independent Jewish storytelling, JFI celebrates the spirit of film, inquiry, independence, collaboration, community, and inclusion to turn conversation into action, reframe understanding of Jewish cultures and identities, and nurture networks of filmmakers and artists. The Institute’s filmmaker services include the competitive, year-long Filmmaker Residency and the JFI Completion Grants, which provide finishing funds to jury-selected projects. Free, online programming includes a popular series of Monthly Online Shorts, the JFI On Demand streaming service, and the JFI Film Archive, a curatorial history of SFJFF. www.jfi.org
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF), presented by the Jewish Film Institute and founded in 1980, is the largest and longest-running festival of its kind and a leader in the curation and presentation of new film and media exploring the complexities of Jewish life around the world. SFJFF is known for its provocative, independent programming that since its inception has helped to launch the careers of emerging filmmakers and highlighted previously untold stories from Jewish communities around the world.
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