USA: Edith Eva Eger

Official Selection – VERZIO International Human Rights Film Festival

In the 1940's a teenager gymnast in Kassa, Edith was aiming to get into the Hungarian Olympic Team but she could not become a member because she was from a Jewish family. In 1944 with her parents and sister, she was deported to Auschwitz where the notorious Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele tore her out from the row which was lining up to the gas chambers. Mengele promised Edit that she would meet with her mother soon who was “just going to have a shower”. Edith's parents were killed on that day. Not long after she found herself in front of Mengele who commanded the prisoners to dance... and Edith started to dance for The Blue Danube Waltz while closing her eyes. This is how she survived the death camp.

Now she lives in San Diego with her family, her house decorated with ballerinas looks at the Pacific ocean, she is 90 years old and she still works as a family therapist. (The autobiography of Edith Eva Eger, 'The Choice' has been among the top 10 best selling books in Hungary for 12 consecutive months following the broadcast of On the Spot's documentary.)

SARAJEVO: Lilies of Sarajevo

Official Selection – Sarajevo International Film Festival BH Program
Official Selection – INPUT International Public Television Conference, New York

In Sarajevo recently opened the first war museum that concentrates on children who grew up during the war. The three protagonists of our film are three young Bosnian adults who were children during the longest siege of history. Kemal only remembers images and feelings from the war so he rationally cannot explain what traumas caused his panic attacks from darkness and lightnings for years. Asja remembers everything: she almost died twice when she found herself in the middle of grenades and snipers at the age of 6. As a screenwriter she used writing and filmmaking as a therapy in order to get rid of her nightmares. Our third protagonist, Mela was one of the faces of the siege in the international press because the story of the beautiful ballet dancer girl touched both war correspondents and viewers around the world. She wrote over 1000 diary entries during the war. Many times her life was in danger but she was almost killed 10 years after the war in London where she was hit by a double-decker bus. She was in a coma for five weeks and lost all her memories. A long therapy brought back her traumatic memories with the help of diary entries and the archival footages about her… Three very different structures of memories about growing up in the daily shadow of death during the siege.

KOREA: Shin

Shin was born and grew up in a strict North Korean prison camp. As a teenager he denounced his own mother and brother for planning their escape which led to their execution Shin had to watch. When he escaped to South Korea through China as a young adult, he had to learn what life outside the prison camp meant. He needed to understand such basic concepts like time, freedom, family or money. How can Shin live with his past in the extremely modern society of Seoul after the darkest side of North Korea? Can he ever recover from his painful memories?

VIETNAM: Amerasians

During the Vietnam War hundreds of thousands of foreign soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. Tens of thousands were born as children of Vietnamese mothers and foreign fathers, among them were two protagonists of our film, Tuy and Brian. They left Vietnam as members of the so-called “Amerasian” minority. They grew up in the US but recently moved back to their country of birth. The third protagonist of the film is Landon who was left in an orphanage with his twin sister after their mother's death. Their lives were at constant risk because of the lack of supplies. Within the framework of Operation Babylift, “Amerasian” orphans were supposed to be rescued from Vietnam by the US Army, but the first plane tragically crashed. On that plane travelled Landon with his twin sister... Through a miraculous story this episode describes how Brian, Tuy and Landon lived their Vietnamese and adoptee identities in the US, and why they returned to Vietnam where they became best friends.

CAMBODIA: Khmer Rouge

The father of the Cambodian Norng was taken and executed by the Khmer Rouge soldiers of the Pol Pot regime. Norng was imprisoned with his brother and mother in the notorious Tuol Sleng prison. His mother was tortured and killed. Norng was hiding under the heap of clothes of the dead prisoners for three days with three other children, until the prison was liberated. He was one of the handful survivors. The shocking archival footage from the time of the liberation clearly shows the eight-year-old boy, who did not only save his own life… However, Norng is still haunted by his past, because they were hiding a one-year-old infant too, who did not survive the liberation... Norng is currently the employee of the Genocide Museum therefore every single day he returns to the location of the tragedies of his early childhood.

INDIA: Partition

In 1947 a British lawyer who had never been to India before, drew the borders of India and Pakistan using old maps and a ruler. 10 million people left for a new home, Muslims migrated to the North while Hindus moved to the South. Due to the aftermath of World War II, the biggest migration of the 20th century is still a relatively untold story in Europe. We tell the story from the perspective of a little girl who suddenly became the enemy in Muslim Pakistan because of her religion. Her parents considered that they would not be able to escape from the fighters arriving to their village, so they committed a family suicide by throwing their children into the river, then they also jumped after them. Only our protagonist survived this family tragedy, who tells her story for the very first time on camera.

CANADA: Dr. Gabor Mate

The world-famous doctor, Gábor Máté was born in 1944 in Budapest as the child of a Jewish family. At the moment of his birth his father was at forced labour and many of his relatives were taken to concentration camps, from where they never returned. His mother wrote a diary about the times before and after his birth, which had a serious impact on Dr Máté even decades later... After the war the family defected to Canada where Dr Máté became the expert of addictions. In his research he explored how childhood memories and traumas affect people's long-term health. His conviction is that the circumstances of our birth fundamentally determine our lives. This principle was confirmed by his studies in the last decades which was published in international bestsellers, translated to over 40 languages.

ROMANIA: Andras Visky

Under the Communist regime often entire families were sent to work camps. András Visky was born in 1957 as the son of a pastor of the Reformist Church. When his father was imprisoned, András and his whole family was transported to a lager town on the Baragan-lowland. While spending 6 years in the harsh conditions that killed many fellow inmates, he experienced humiliation and the cruel world of Communist work camps early on. He was treated as guilty even though he was just an innocent child. Now András is a well-known writer and director, working primarily at the Hungarian Theatre in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In his works he regularly processes memories of captivity and guilt. How can a Transylvanian Hungarian writer deal with the traumas of his past - before and after the democratic change of the political system in Romania?

SAUDI ARABIA: Ensaf and Raif Badawi

Opposition blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to jail and public flogging for his spreading liberal views on the internet in Saudi Arabia. His father renounced him on a live TV-show and asked for his prosecution by Sharia law. Raif's wife and children escaped to Canada where they got asylum. The film gives an intimate portrait of a family living in exile, with the trauma of an imprisoned and absent father.

The Vedda Tribe

The first mobile phones just popped up in the rain forest of Sri Lanka where the ascendents of the Vedda tribe have lived for thousands of years. The chief is strongly against the telecommunication boom and sees mobiles as the gadgets of the evil.

Tech Monks

Can the young buddhist monks meditate if they are constantly on Instagram? An exclusive meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama who has been financially supporting a dictionary application to conserve Tibetan culture for the future.

The Slum

How does smart technology change the way of life and way of thinking in one of the biggest slums in the world? An intimate portrait of two women and their families living in Dharavi, home to a million poor people, surrounded by Mumbai's boosting financial district's skyscrapers.

Maldives

Two islands on the Indian Ocean, just 600 meters apart. Soneva Fushi is one of the most expensive private island resorts in the world where superstars and aristocrats pay a fortune for a digital detox. Across the water on the local island Maldivians changed their fishing net to the internet in just a decade, spending 12-14 hours on their smartphones every day.

Electrosensitives

Three American women who lost everything due to being sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. In cities like New York they lost their jobs, their homes, their families and social status. They had no choice but leaving everything behind. After years of suffering and isolation in the woods and in trailers, eventually they found Green Bank, a sleepy little town in West Virginia. It is one of the very few places in the US where electrosensitive people can live without symptoms. Here there is no mobile phone network or WIFI due to the world's largest fully steerable telescope which needs the National Radio Quiet Zone around it to be able to operate properly... More and more electrosensitive people escape here, however, locals don't welcome them with open arms...

Safe Technology?

Canadian researcher Magda Havas Phd. has been alarming Canadian society about the health risks of electromagnetic radiation (EMF). Meanwhile ex-president of Microsoft Canada started an NGO 'Canadians for Safe Technology' to raise awareness about how to use smartphones, wifi-routers and gadgets in a safe way, not exposing our bodies to too much radiation. His wife has also become electrosensitive – this is the first time this wealthy and respected family of the Canadian high society shares their personal story with the public.

Radiation and Internet Addiction

We join EMF scientist Mr. Gyorgy Thuroczy of WHO at the Congress of Electromagnetic Radiation who is very skeptical about the work of researchers like Magda Havas. Mr. Thuroczy states that the EMF of our gadgets are far below the health limits and there is no hard scientific evidence that it might cause brain cancer. Still, he also urges the public to limit our body's exposure to EMF as research is still underway with indicators that it might have potential carcinogenic effects.

In the second part of this episode we explore internet addiction with the #1 American psychologist on the issue, Dr. Kimberly Young who first wrote down the phrase 'internet addiction'. She gives an insight into this more alarming issue around the globe.

ERBORE

The time travel started in Ethiopia with the Erbore tribe whose territory is also known as mosquito land. To get to know them more thoroughly Eszter and Andris moved in with the tribe, ate, drank, harvested, hunted, slept and danced with them. This award-winning film is the first one in the Tribes series which reveals what it means to be a man or a woman in such tribes. Especially that a pregnant woman is giving birth in a hut without any medical assistance…

SURI

The second episode presents the Suris from the Ethiopian Omo valley. They are considered to be one the fiercest tribes in the world and are famous for their annual stick fights which often claim fatalities. Nowadays they purchase Kalashnikovs from Sudan to protect themselves and their invaluable livestock from the other tribes. Defence is part of their lives: they used to disfigure women with lip plates to prevent them from being taken away as slaves. Today this practice is considered as beautifying. Meanwhile AIDS is rapidly claiming more and more victims and a Christian missionary couple is trying to halt the spreading of the virus. Eszter and Andris spent the night in a hut while visiting the tribe, that is how they had the opportunity to witness a wedding, or realise that the Suris prefer dancing to speaking because it brings them happiness. Andris even tried stick-fighting with a Suri warrior.

BIJAGO

This film was shot in the West African Guinea-Bissau at one of the world’s least researched tribes. The country, rotten to the core, is infamous for the Columbian cocaine shipments that are dropped here and later distributed in Europe. There are more than 80 islands along the coast of Bissau out of which only about 20 are inhabited, that’s where the bijago live. No schools, no hospitals, no roads, no vegetables are grown on the islands, only rice is harvested and the odd radio means connection to the outside world. Still, this completely isolated community is changing. Christianity is spreading while many are still followers of Animism. In most of their time they celebrate at Animist rituals and their shamans are visited from as far as the capital by people seeking protection. Earlier the community lived in a matriarchal society which means that succession ran in the female line, the most important decisions were made by women. Today, however, the members of the tribe strive to resemble our civilization and expect help from their former colonizers. A West African island tribe’s struggle to catch up.

DANI

Eszter Cseke and András S. Takács travelled to Papua this time where the Dani tribe received them holding spears, stark naked, wearing battle masks. After some negotiations the tribe decided to welcome them. This way the filmmakers could observe a world from hundreds of years ago. In the Wednesday episode we can see a tribal clash, a 350 year old tribal chief in the form of a treasured mummy, finally the tribe’s most coveted secret comes to light…

KOROWAI

The new episode of the Tribes series is set in Indonesia with the rainforest inhabiting Korowais. The last cannibals in the world – that’s how renowned international magazines and well-known American TV programmes report on this tribe. Eszter and Andris took seven scheduled flights, sailed for two days and walked for a day to reach the Korowai tribe to spend some time with them in order to get to know them. They ate live worms, hunted for pythons and during these adventures the filmmakers and the members of the tribe learned a lot about each other.

TIMOR

In the final episode of On The Spot: Tribes Eszter Cseke and András S. Takács report from Timor, from a head-hunter tribe. The sixth episode is set on an island 500km from Australia, in a village that is within a stone’s throw from western civilization but wants nothing to do with it. After the Korowais, thought to be cannibals, the Suris fighting in the Omo valley, the Bijagoes living on Guinea-Bissau, the Ethiopian Erbores and the Dani tribe on Papua here’s a community which has fallen behind modern times on purpose. They used to be head-hunters, today they are guarding their culture in a village beside a rock wall, a kilometre away from the motorway. They don’t let electricity and telephones in, they want to stay the same as in the old days.

LOVE COMMANDO

In India with its 1.2 billion inhabitants love counts as a daring new feature. In a society divided by caste and clan systems the parents choose their offspring’s suitable partners. If a girl and a boy fall in love without permission they usually have no choice but to elope. If they get caught the family retaliate with an ‘honour killing’. It is such a disgrace for the family that they say the best solution is to shed the blood of the indecent daughter or son: they kill their own children. Honour killings are ordinary in India. The killers are hardly prosecuted and although everybody knows about the killings few do anything to stop them.

Somewhere in a shabby back alley in New Delhi is where the Love Commando operates. They rescue and hide escaped couples in their secret hide-outs. The majority of the couples want to start a new life in a far away corner of India, far from the shadow of the vendetta. The Hungarian filmmakers became acquainted with the story of couples on the run and the warriors of the love commando in such a hide-out. Later they met parents who were looking for their children so that they can murder them. A handful of fighters’ modern war on ancient tradition.

JEWISH SETTLERS

The second episode of the series takes place in the West Bank. The protagonists are the Jewish settlers who live in the Palestinian area to fulfil the Biblical prophecy, to populate the land of Israel according to what borders are recorded in the Torah.

The mission of the settlers is surrounded by brutal murders and military actions, there is a constant debate even within Israel. Eszter Cseke and András S. Takács show the settlers' movement from as close as Hungarian viewers have never seen it. they do so with their usual curiosity, honesty and bravery. They accompanied their protagonists to the grave of Joshua in the middle of a Palestinian village where the Israeli army secured the prayer. They also followed the trial of one settlement at the Israeli Supreme Court and they were allowed to film in the Judean desert during the night when at the stroke of midnight thousands of settlers cry out to God for all the things that cannot be expressed by speech…

This episode got into the official selection of the 26th Dallas VideoFest (TX, USA).

TIBETAN SELF IMMOLATIONS

Eszter Cseke and András S. Takács show the perhaps most desperate and most radical form of fight: Tibetan Buddhists who protest against oppression by setting fire to themselves. Why are they doing it? How are they capable? And what does Buddhism say about this? Upsetting footage, never before seen in Hungary, captivating testimonies and a man who has failed: he set fire to himself but survived.

The chronicles of a conflict from Gaza

A Qassam-fighter is collecting the remaining parts of Ahmed Jabari's body from his wreck after an Israeli airstrike that killed the head of al-Qassam Brigade. A Palestinian journalist who doesn't believe in violence, is getting a phone call, his 8-year-old daughter was hit. A shiver cut three of her fingers off. Parallel stories of the Qassam-fighter whose dream is to blow himself up to take revenge and the journalist who is willing to do anything to get the daughter into an Israeli hospital - the only place where she can be saved. The birth of hatred and hope - the chronicles of the latest conflict in Gaza.

Thaipusam Festival

A Malaysian business man, a lawyer and a night club owner from their daily life in Kuala Lumpur to their trance period at the Batu Cave, capturing the transformation process at one of the biggest Hindu festivals in the world.

Crucifixion at Easter

In the Philippines every Easter dozens of people decide to imitate the last journey of Jesus Christ and crucify themselves. The film follows a man and a women from their homes to the cross.

Maldives

A place which is paradise for the elite of the world and a nightmare for tens of thousands of Bangladeshi workers whose passports are taken away and forced to work for very little money. Modern day slavery right next to the paradise - and the possible way out of it.

Siwa

An oasis in the Sahara where time stopped. Locals and westerners live here for very different reasons in very different ways at one of the most beautiful and ancient places of the planet.

Kashmir

The untold aftermath of a bloody war: torture, murders, disappearances and the lack of responsibility — still today.

Charlie Gun

Intimate portrait of a gangster in Johannesburg from the notorious Sun City Jail to bedrooms where drug is in the air and everywhere. Rap, gangs and the roots of violence in South Africa.

Best Of

The most exciting moments from Kashmir, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines and the Maldives.

On The Spot – Nepal (2010)

Home of the Himalaya and the Mount Everest. But how does Nepal look like under the sparkling hills? A nation that helped the westerners up on the top of the world, little girls treated like Goddess, the aftermath of the ten-year-long Maoist war and voluntary child soldiers.

On The Spot – Burma (2010)

A hidden countryside, murdered monks, imprisoned politicians and an exclusive interview with ex political prisoner U Win Tin.

This special report from Burma received the Press Freedom Award in Strasbourg from the Council of Europe and the European Youth Press. Both BBC World and CNN International aired excerpts of this rare footage.

On The Spot – Mauritania (2010)

The fatter the woman, the sexier she is. If a woman doesn't weigh at least 100 kilograms, her chances of marriage are slim. So the daily meal here is 20 liters of camel milk and some animal nutrients. Force feeding and slavery in the shadow of al-Qaida.

On The Spot – Varanasi (2010)

Documentary on the city of death at the bank of the Ganges in India.

On The Spot – Iran (2011)

Oppression and opposition through the lens of the Iranian film industry from Paris to Tehran. An illegal photo studio where girls act as if they were not living in Iran. Banned directors who might never be able to return to their homeland. Guys who risked their lives demonstrating against the regime in 2009. And an exclusive interview with the famous director, Jafar Panahi who was sentenced to jail.

On The Spot – Egypt (2011)

Right after the revolution the question is what the Egyptians are going to do with their freedom. Tens of millions celebrate the changes. More than ten million Christians fear that the Muslim Brotherhood might come into power. And there are people who don't care: they continue living in tombs at the outskirts of Cairo.

On The Spot  - Japan (2011)

A special report from Japan about the tsunami and the earthquake, starting 24 hours after the tragedy, following the events for a month. The detailed aftermath of a natural disaster in one of the most developed countries in the world through human stories and emotional situations behind the news.

On The Spot – the French Foreign Legion (2011)

What kind of trainings do the legionnaires get at the Equator? How do they become fearless elite soldiers who obey orders and never ask? A hunt for gold diggers in the jungle with the strangest and most diverse army on Earth.

On The Spot – New York City (2011)

After xenophobic attacks all around Europe and especially after the Norwegian massacre many predict the end of multiculturalism, saying that we cannot coexist anymore. New York is still telling us that we can, even 10 years after 9/11. A Chinese American, an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim imam are guiding us to understand how and why they can manage to live together.

On The Spot – Best of (2011)

The most interesting moments of the program in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Nepal, Gaza, South Africa and Burma.

On The Spot – Gaza strip (2009)

The pilot episode of On The Spot, showing young guys with heavy weapons, the Qassam Brigade, the smuggling tunnels under the border of Egypt and Gaza and a Jewish woman living in the strip, the only Israeli in Gaza.

On The Spot – Israel (2009)

A protest where Jews and Palestinians are demonstrating together against the wall on the border of Israel. A Nazi officer's son who converted to Judaism, now he is a rabbi in Jerusalem. The father of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was kidnapped at the Gaza border. The famous Russian writer, Ludmilla Ulitskaya who wrote a book about the Gestapo's Jewish translator: after the war Daniel Stein returned to Israel as a Catholic priest and tried to be a bridge between Judaism and Christianity - any chance?

On The Spot – Ethiopia (2009)

It is Paradise for hundreds of thousands coming from Africa as refugees though there are millions still starving in the country. Thousands of people come for a psychedelic pilgrimage at Debre Damo, an ancient monastery. There is no other way to get there but climbing the holy mountain. Nine women out of ten are still circumcised in Ethiopia. While staying with a tribe in the desert we try to understand the roots of a tradition that maybe shouldn't be understood. Plus an exclusive interview with the runner legend, the most successful Ethiopian man, Haile Gebraselassie about the reasons why he doesn't donate any money to anyone.

On The Spot – Svalbard (2009)

A journey to the Arctic Circle and human stories of a special city in the sphere of snow and ice. Plus an exclusive interview with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on climate change and his trip to Svalbard.

On The Spot – Bolivia (2009)

A special investigation of a murder from the imprisoned Hungarian teacher in the jail of La Paz to Evo Morales in the Presidential Palace.

On The Spot – Sri Lanka (2010)

Sri Lanka is a war-stricken area, hit by disaster but also a top tourist destination with its sunshine, sea, Safire, tea and elephants. Meanwhile the Tamil Tigers are trying to form a political party after decades of civil war. A priest is working on the rehabilitation of children who were kidnapped to become child soldiers. Journalists trying to cover war crimes and corruption - they are murdered. The two faces of Sri Lanka in one film.

On The Spot – Afghanistan (2010)

After British and Russian invasion, after the regime of the Mujahedeen, American troops are fighting in the country. We are embedded with them at the Pakistani border. In the world's most dangerous city, Kabul, people got used to suicide bombers but they only make the news when a westerner dies too. Portrait of Malalai Joya, a brave and unusual human rights activist who survived 5 assassinations.

On The Spot - South Africa (2010)

While the world is watching the FIFA World Cup, we show the darkest side of Johannesburg and the last remaining white populated villages. Gangsters, apartheid, racism against blacks and whites. The reality of the country and all that's left out of the news. People who were kidnapped and kidnapper gangs from the backwaters of Johannesburg. A documentary from the most dangerous slums of the city where white people wouldn't even dream to enter. And a white-only territory where blacks are still not allowed to stay. Swastikas in schools, openly racist youngsters who wow never to date Naomi Campbell and claim that Nelson Mandela was a terrorist.