ZALA films: Home

4.16.2014

People of the Current (1971) is now available on DVD from Amazon. The 1971 ethnographic documentary by anthropologist Thomas Kiefer and filmmaker George Csicsery is an early attempt to use 1/2-inch black and white reel-to-reel videotape for field recordings. The tape was then transferred to 16mm for editing, and the film was originally released in monochrome 16mm prints. Due to chronic insurgencies and warfare, for many years this film was the only window on the culture of the Tausug people who live in Jolo in the southern Philippines.

3.17.2014

George Csicsery will present an 18-minute sample clip from Angel of Mercy: The Story of Sister Margaret Slachta at The Holocaust in Hungary, 70 Years on: New Perspectives, a conference to be held March 16-18, 2014, at Florida Gulf Coast University's Center for Judaic, Holocaust & Genocide Studies. The 18-minute sample reel can also be seen at the film's website.

2.17.2014

Berkeley Rep's Monday Night PlayGround will present six plays on the theme, "A Passion for Primes." This year's collaboration between the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre was inspired by the groundbreaking work of Yitang Zhang in 2013 on the Twin Primes Conjecture. Zala Films' George Csicsery began working on a documentary about Zhang and his successful result in September 2013, to be completed later in 2014.

Csicsery participated in discussions with the playwrights and showed them clips from the documentary before they set out to write their plays. He also participated in selecting the six plays to be performed on February 17, and will be one of the panelists alongside mathematicians and playwrights immediately before the Monday night performances. Read more about the 11th Annual Math Night and Monday Night PlayGround at Berkeley Rep.

12.30.2013

Taking the Long View airs in Puerto Rico on 12/30/13 at midnight (that's Sunday night) on WMTJ in Fajardo, PR. Que bueno!

12.06.2013

Taking the Long View will be screened at the Centre de recherches mathematiques, Universite de Montreal, on December 6, 2013, at 4 pm. George Csicsery will be present to discuss the film. Read more information here.

The CRM is located on the 5th floor of the Pavillon Andre-Aisenstadt. See building #20 on the campus map (PDF).

10.17.2013 & 10.18.2013

George Csicsery will conduct a master class on documentary films October 17 and 18 as part of the Fall 2013: Cinema Speaker Master Class Series at the Cinema Department of San Francisco State University. The theme of the film presentations and discussions with department grad students and faculty members is entitled Unlikely Films.

10.04.2013

George Csicsery's documentary TROOP 214 (214-ES CSAPAT) (2008) will screen at the Chagrin Documentary Film Fest in Chagrin Falls, Ohio on Friday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. at South Franklin Circle, 16575 South Franklin St., Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022. Screening details here. Director George Csicsery will be present.

7.02.2013 & 7.03.2013

Erdös 100, celebrating the 100th birthday of Paul Erdös, premieres at two screenings at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary, on July 2 and 3 at 7 p.m. as part of the Erdös Centennial conference and celebrations, being held July 1 through 5. Filmmaker George Csicsery will be present.

3.26.2013

Today would be Paul Erdös's 100th birthday. With newspapers all over the world honoring Erdös and his mathematical problems in today's editions, the Simons Foundation has featured a short clip of excerpts from N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdös at its website.

3.20.2013

Science Lives is a series of extended interviews with some of the giants of 20th-century mathematics and science. A short highlights film created by filmmaker George Csicsery to introduce the Science Lives project to attendees of the 2013 Joint Mathematics Meetings held in San Diego has been posted on the Web at the Science Lives site. This collection, organized in collaboration with Hugo Rossi of the University of Utah, provides an opportunity to watch these great men and women discuss their lives and their thinking about science and our world.

3.20.2013

The second day of a four-film program of mathematics documentaries by George Csicsery at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco features N IS A NUMBER: A Portrait of Paul Erdos at 6 PM and 9:30 PM, and HARD PROBLEMS: The Road to the World’s Toughest Math Contest, showing at 8 PM. Visit the Roxie website for details or call 415.863.1087.

3.18.2013

The Roxie Theater opens a four-film program of mathematics documentaries by George Csicsery with the San Francisco Bay Area premiere of TAKING THE LONG VIEW: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern, screening at 7:45 PM. There will also be two screenings of JULIA ROBINSON AND HILBERT'S TENTH PROBLEM, at 6:30 PM and 9 PM. Visit the Roxie website for details or call 415.863.1087.

2.23.2013 - 3.3.2013

19th Annual Sedona International Film Festival screens CHILD OF GIANTS: My Journey with Maynard Dixon and Dorothea Lange on Monday, February 25, at 9 AM, and Friday, March 1, at 3:15 PM, at the Harkins Theatres, 2081 W. State Route 89A, West Sedona, ph 928-282-1177. More details here.

2.2.2013

CHILD OF GIANTS screens as part of the inaugural weekend of the new Marin History Museum at 1125 B Street, San Rafael, CA 94901, ph 415-454-8538. The MHM is also currently running a terrific exhibit of photographs entitled "Dorothea Lange at Steep Ravine." There will be a reception at 5:00 p.m., followed by the film screening at 6:00 p.m. Director Tom Ropelewski will be present for a Q&A afterward. Tickets are on sale at the door, with suggested donations of $5 for MHM members and $10 for the public. For more information, please go to the museum website.

1.10.2013

Taking the Long View: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern will be screened at the 2013 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego.

Thursday January 10, 2013
6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
AMS-MAA Special Film Presentation
Taking the Long View: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern
Room 6AB, Upper Level, San Diego Convention Center

1.10.2013

A 5-minute trailer for the Simons Foundation Science Lives series of science biography videos will be screened at the 2013 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego in conjunction with a screening of Taking the Long View: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern.

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