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CREATED:20051018T002900Z
DESCRIPTION:History is typically brought to us in its official form—the sponsored 
 version, validated by power and assembled by authorized agents. But the 
 visual evidence of history has its unsanctioned and overlooked sources, 
 troves of images from elsewhere. The exacting Hungarian artist Peter 
 Forgacs has plundered one such trove, that of home movies shot primarily in 
 the thirties and forties by Hungarian Jews. “The films became more than 
 evidence, more than fact,” Forgacs has said. “They became a complex 
 cultural and archaeological site for me.” Forgacs shapes the footage into 
 elegiac “family sagas” that have the specificity of particular people 
 yet bear, through poetic resonance, an unofficial history of a time-bound 
 culture. Forgacs’s minimalism is a vital attribute: subtle cues, a word 
 placed in the frame identifying a notable person or poignant moment, ride 
 gently upon restrained waves of image manipulation. Composer Tibor 
 Szemzˆ’s haunting soundscapes further accentuate both visual detail and 
 emotional strains. Private Hungary, a series initiated in the late 
 eighties, now includes a dozen works; in the mid-nineties, Forgacs began 
 resurrecting home movies from other countries such as Spain, the 
 Netherlands, and Greece, adding breadth to his “private” world. These 
 three programs offer an official look at an unauthorized history that 
 demands our recognition.  -Steve Seid   
 -------------------------------------------------------  1st Program:   
 Wedneday, November 2  7:30  Father and His Three Sons: The Bartos Family 
 and Dusi and Jenˆ   Peter Forgacs (Hungary, 1988/1989)  These compelling 
 works look at the vanished Hungarian bourgeois culture of the thirties and 
 forties. Father and His Three Sons (60 mins) follows Zolt·n Bartos and his 
 family across a span of thirty years. Here, the little ceremonies of family 
 life are enveloped by a wistful calm, denying the political upheaval 
 occurring throughout Europe. In Dusi and Jenˆ (45 mins) the focus is more 
 expansive. Jenˆ, a bank clerk with a filmmaker’s eye, brings Budapest 
 into sharp focus. While he and his wife Dusi cavort, the city stands mutely 
 by, splendid one year, ravaged by war the next.—Steve Seid   (Total 
 running time: 105 mins, B&W/Tinted, 3/4” video, PFA Collection, 
 permission of the artist)    [This series is presented in conjunction with 
 the Judah L. Magnes Museum exhibition The Danube Exodus: The Rippling 
 Currents of the River, coproduced by Peter Forgacs and the Labyrinth 
 Project, on view through January 22, 2006. For information, visit 
 http://www.magnes.org.]\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/10/17/78543.php
SUMMARY:The Unofficial Histories of Peter Forgacs, Part 1 of 3
LOCATION:Pacific Film Archive @ UC Berkeley  2575 Bancroft Way  Between College and 
 Telegraph  Berkeley, CA 94720
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/10/17/78543.php
DTSTART:20051103T033000Z
DTEND:20051103T053000Z
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