The Visual Studies Platform presents
A special online screening of Free University (Szabad Egyetem)
directed by Jonathan Hunter, Hungary, 2019, 54 min
17:30, Wednesday, June 3rd
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/91307585379
Meeting ID: 913 0758 5379
Password: 512613
Please join us for the special screening and discussion of this film, which began as a project in a CEU course. The screening will be followed by an Q&A with filmmakers (and CEU alumni) Jonathan Hunter & Lucie Janotová, and Viktor Mák (Szabad Egyetem Student Movement). It will be moderated by Jeremy Braverman, CEU’s Media & Visual Education Specialist.
About Szabad Egyetem
A group of CEU students refuses to accept that their university is expelled from Hungary, choosing to resist the decline of academic freedom.
Imagine waking up as an “enemy of the people.” This was the reality waiting for students and staff of Central European University (CEU) as a coordinated legal and media apparatus began to demonize and eventually criminalize the Hungarian-American institution. Szabad Egyetem/ The Free University follows students of CEU as they struggle against their exile by an increasingly authoritarian government. Through their stories, we show life in a backsliding democracy and the consequences of democratic “red lines” being crossed with impunity.
Directed by Jonathan Hunter. Born in the UK, Jonathan moved to Budapest in 2016, where he studied documentary filmmaking and philosophy at Central European University. Jonathan has since made several commercial videos, educational content, and short documentaries. He now works as a freelance filmmaker and videographer in Florence, Italy.
Co-directed by Lucie Janotová
Edited & translated by Ádám Hushegyi
Cinematographer: Ifra Asad
Producer: Mackenzie Nelson
Web: https://thefreeuniversityfilm.com/
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/347911131