Washington, DC – The Coalition has granted $1,000 to support “Memory Project: a Hungarian American Visual History Archive”, an initiative by Coalition Vice President Andrea Lauer Rice and Réka Pigniczky, award-winning documentary filmmaker and Coalition member.
In 2015, Lauer Rice and Pigniczky joined forces to launch this community-wide initiative to create a visual history archive by interviewing ’56-ers and Displaced Persons – none of whom had ever told their stories on camera.
The Hungary Initiatives Foundation provided the initial grant for the project that enabled travel to six locations in the US and Hungary (San Francisco, CA, Cleveland, OH, Sarasota, FL, New Brunswick, NJ, Fillmore, NY and Budapest, Hungary) and to complete 35 interviews for the Memory Project.
The interviews average one hour in length and are uploaded to The Memory Project vimeo channel with minimal editing.
Lauer Rice and Pigniczky recently announced Phase 2 of the project, which will add 65 interviews in five new locations for the year, bringing it to a total of 100. They are currently raising funds through February 20 through an Indiegogo campaign with the goal of reaching $30,000 for this new phase of the project.
Funds received from the Hungarian American community will enable them to travel to more locations within the U.S., to film, edit and subtitle the interviews. After they’ve recorded and archived 100 interviews, they plan to find the best long-term home for the collection.
If you would like to support this important initiative, there are many ways you can help:
- Read more about the background and the achievements so far and donate here. Any amount is very helpful and much appreciated!
- Recommend ’56-ers and DPs in your community to be included in the Memory Project. Encourage relatives to share their story of immigration from Hungary to the United States. Please send these to alauer@lauerlearning.com.
- Spread the word about the Memory Project.
- Stay connected on Facebook to stay up-to-date on the Memory Project.