Cold Warriors

Documentary film

(USA/Hungary) 56 min., 2017
Written and Directed by: Réka Pigniczky
Original idea: Andrea Lauer Rice
Cinematography: Zsuzsanna Gellér-Varga and Réka Pigniczky
Editor: László Hargittai, H.S.E.
Music by: Gergely Parádi
Vocals: Jolán Gerő
Producer: Barnabás Gerő and Réka Pigniczky
Produced by: 56 Films
Funded by: The 1956 Commemoration Committee of Hungary

In Rummerfield, Pennsylvania at the height of the Cold War, a handful of young American-Hungarians were ready to fight for freedom in a homeland they barely knew. Nearly half a century later, in 2016, they return to the remote, run-down farm along the Susquehanna River, to the revolution of their past – and the dreams of their youth. This is an unusual class reunion that speaks about the Iron Curtain, the Cold War and being a hyphenated American. 

“We were training to eventually help liberate Hungary, that we would eventually become either paratroopers or in some way cross the border and go back to Hungary as part of a liberation organization.”
-András Ludányi, (political scientist, member of the Hungarian-American Rifle Association)

Trailer: to watch click here.

Festivals, screenings:

Chagrin International Film Festival (Ohio, USA, October 6, 2017)
Broadcast on Duna Television (Hungary) October 23, 2017
Uránia National Film Theater: (Budapest) November 7, 2017 

Memory Project 1956/2021

Documentary film, 2021

(USA/Hungary) 57 minutes
Director: Réka Pigniczky
Co-director: Andrea Lauer Rice
Cinematography: Réka Pigniczky, Gergő Kiss, Balázs Wizner, Barna Szász
Editor: László Hargittai, H.S.E.
Music by: Botond Őri-Kiss
Vocals: Enese Pigniczky
Producer: Barnabás Gerő and Réka Pigniczky
Produced by: 56 Films
Funded by: The Hungarian National Film Institute

1956 was the real year I was born.

More than 60 years after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, eyewitnesses to the first and most significant uprising against the tyranny of the Soviet Union share their personal stories of survival and resilience. ‘Memory Project’ is a compilation of life-history interviews conducted by Andrea Lauer Rice and Réka Pigniczky for the eponymous Memory Project Archive that they founded in 2015. Spanning 10 countries and three continents, the online archive currently houses over 150 interviews.

The compilation film, created to mark the 65th anniversary of the revolution, includes compelling stories by those who fled to the West in 1956, primarily to the U.S. The cast comes from all walks of life – from co-founder of Intel, Corp. in Sonoma, California to Richard M. Daley’s personal photographer. They describe the years leading up to the revolution, the uprising itself, how they made the decision to flee their homeland and what 1956 still means to them today.

To watch the trailer, click here.

To watch a short excerpt, click here.

Festivals, screenings:

Chagrin International Film Festival (Ohio, USA, October, 2021)
Broadcast on Duna Television (Hungary) October 23, 2021
Hungarian National Film Fesztival (Veszprém, Hungary) June, 2022

Available on Filmio: to watch, click here.

56/Z

Documentary film, 2023 

(USA/Hungary) 71 minutes
Director: Réka Pigniczky
Co-director: Gergő Kiss
Cinematography: Gergő Kiss
Editor: Gergő Kiss
Music by: Botond Őri-Kiss
Producer: Barnabás Gerő and Réka Pigniczky
Produced by: 56 Films
Funded by: The Hungarian National Film Institute

What does the Hungarian revolution of 1956 – the Communist bloc’s first major uprising against the Soviet Union – mean to young adults whose grandparents were even too young to remember it?

In 56/Z, Réka Pigniczky’s 6th film about the Hungarian revolution, the award-winning Hungarian-American director collaborates with Gen Z art students at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), who are tasked with creating an installation of artworks about their relationship to 1956. The film follows the students as they engage with the Memory Project – an archive of life-history interviews with 1956 eyewitnesses – and shows how their artwork evolves along with their connection to the events of history.

To watch the trailer, click here.

Festivals, screenings:

Chagrin International Film Festival (Ohio, USA, October, 2023)
Kino Art Cafe Theater: November 4, 2023
Broadcast on Duna Television (Hungary) October 23, 2023