Ladies and Gentlemen:

Happy New Year! This quarterly letter is to update you on the latest developments on the feature-length documentary film project Torn from the Flag about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and its significant global effects.

Please let me say first of all that we so appreciate all the very positive and encouraging letters and emails we have been receiving regarding our efforts. Your support means a lot to us!

We are very excited to let you know that by the time you are reading this newsletter we will be in our principal photography phase and completing our U.S. shoot. As we raise more funds, we will then proceed with the filming planned in foreign locations.

Since our last newsletter, we held two fundraising events. The first took place at the Kossuth Club in Sarasota, Florida on February 24, 2004. The wonderfully efficient organizers were Eva and Geza Kisvarsanyi and Robert Szalay, Jr. Our generous donors were: Norbert and Maria Berta; Steven and Susan Deak; Ursula Nadasdy DeGallo; Emery and Elizabeth Farkas; E. Fesus; W. and C.M. Graff; Hungarian American Cultural Association (a.k.a. Kossuth Club); Dr. Geza and Mrs. Eva B. Kisvarsanyi; Edith Lovas; Elek and Helena Molnar; Zoltan Z. and Ilona Morvay; Irene Reber; Aniko Gaal Schott; Zoltan Szabados; Col. Endre and Ilona V.B. Tamaska; Alexandra Vadasz, M.D., P.A.; and Ilike Varga. I was hosted in queenly fashion by the Szalay and the Tarkanyi families. Plus, I was the guest of honor at a separate, elaborate dinner party given by Elek and Helena Molnar at their beautiful residence.

The fundraising event in Washington, D.C. on March 7, 2005, took place at the Hungarian Embassy. Ambassador Andras Simonyi and Congressman Tom Lantos gave their remarks; Mrs. Annette Lantos also graced us with her presence. I introduced the film and its community aspect. Dr. Istvan Nyirjesy, President of the Hungarian Club of Washington, D.C., spoke as well. Musical entertainment was provided by the talented pair Letitia Nyirjesy (violin) and Dimitry Dover (piano), playing Bartok, Brahms and Debussy, and also by the charmingly entertaining duo Charity Tilleman-Dick, soprano, and Aimo Pagin, pianist, offering selections by Gershwin and Offenbach. The evening also featured a silent auction, with a bottle of wine provided by Miklos Perehazy; a book provided by Julius Ling; an etching provided by Gabor Koranyi and a watercolor provided by Gyula Varga. The evening was elegantly organized by the Ambassador and his wife Mrs. Nada Pejak Simonyi; Karoly Dan, Cultural Attache; Frank Koszorus and Dr. Istvan Nyirjesy. The following generously donated in D.C.: A. Andrew Abraham; Revocable Trust of Gerda H. Klay, Robert W. Alvord, Trustee; two Anonymous donors; Zoltan Bagdy; Louis B. Balla, M.D.; Peter and Eniko M. Basa; Catherine E. Bocskor; Maria V. Chikes; Judy Detorok; Alice Egyed; Yolanda Horan; Anna M. Imregh and Agnes E. Imregh; Frank Koszorus, Jr.; Thomas I. Krisztinicz, M.D., Richard and Ilona M. Landfield; Leslie L. Megyeri; Agnes G. Miles; Michael R. and Irene Morris; Paul A. and Marilyn M. Nejelski; Istvan Nyirjesy, M.D.; Elizabeth B. Offutt; Ernest Paroczay; Aniko Gaal Schott; Terezia Takacs; Erzsebet Thuleweit; Suzanne K. and Imre L. Toth; E.E. and B.I. Vargo; and Paul L. Zador.

Separately from these fund-raising events, we also received generous donations from the following: Kenneth A. and Andrea Horvath Alstrup (2nd donation); American Hungarian Foundation – Hungarian Heritage Center (2nd donation); Anonymous; Gabriella Bitskey; Margit Bory; Edith Bruckner; Cleveland Hungarian Development Panel (2nd donation); Orsolya Csiba and Gabor Nemes; Mihaly Deak IV; Valerie Delacorte (2nd donation); Paul and Eva Fekete; Thomas J. Filep (3rd donation); Paul Gelencser; Hungarian Magyar Club of Chicago; Dr. Geza J. Jako (2nd donation); Janos and Cornelia Kiss; Andrea N. Lauer-Rice; Lewis A. and Lydia C. Maroti; Leslie L. Megyeri; Laszlo J. and Erika Molnar; Mary P. Quandt-LaPorte; Mary J. Radcliffe; Marianne Schattenstein; Attila Szilagyi; Alexander S. Tar; Frank Terenyi (3rd donation); and Trust International Corporation.

I had the opportunity to introduce our film to the Hungarian community in Dallas, as I was asked to speak about it at their celebration in honor of the 1848-1849 Hungarian revolution of March 15. The fantastic organizers of this event were Louis Ott and Imre and Jeannie Gazda. A special thank-you goes to the Gazda family who, in traditional Southern style, treated me like royalty. Although this was not a Torn from the Flag fundraising event, our Dallas friends asked how they could donate to the project. Thus, we gratefully received donations from that community, as well, from the following people: Piroska and Blake Bathory; DP Consultants; Imre and Jeannie Gazda; Sandor and Emese Greksa; Kathleen J. Kovach-Hynes; Louis P. Ott (2nd donation); and Peter B. and Rie Niwa Vali. Also while in Dallas, I visited the Hungarian language school there and was received with warm welcome and curiosity.

Additionally, we owe thank-yous to the following people for their service to this project: Judit Fabian for her research and administrative assistance in Hungary; Rie Vali for website design; Gyorgy Csihak, historian/economist, for his advice in those areas; Dr. Barna Takacs for scouting locations for our shoots; Rozsa Dancs and George Telch for research; Patrick Hostetter of Pixelgate for the loan of a computer for our office and future website hosting; and Michael Esposito, also for research. Also, a belated thank-you goes to Steven Bognar for his archive research and material. Last, but not least, our production has been graced by another personage of real Hollywood royalty: our lovely and enthusiastic new office and production intern is Jasmine Albuquerque, whose step-grandfather was Gregory Peck.

If we inadvertently leave someone out of our acknowledgements, please accept our most profound apologies and draw our attention to the oversight.

We would like to thank all those publications and websites that carried articles about us this quarter; they are: Operencia, the newsletter of the Hungarian Society of Massachusetts; The Messenger, the newsletter of the Kossuth Club of Sarasota, Florida; Nyugati Hirlevel, an independent e-publication at www.hhrf.org/nyugatihirlevel; and Hungarian Life, a Canadian newspaper. We are particularly proud of the fact that Magyar Nemzet, one of the most prestigious daily newspapers in Hungary, recently recognized our film as one of the “Most Important Cultural Events of 2004.”

Please note that if a publication writes about our project, we would like to know and to have a copy of the piece.

As I mentioned in our last newsletter, we are being very careful to be as historically accurate as possible in our film. We also wish to present the subject from as many sides as possible. I have been questioned* about my research into the AVO, the Hungarian Secret Police active during the communist era. Our intention is to make a well-rounded, intelligent film: we will present the truth to the best of our ability; viewers can form their own opinions and make their own judgments. Unfortunately the AVO was part of life in Hungary and therefore cannot be ignored. Naturally, this does not mean we agree with their philosophy or their methods, but since we are making a documentary, we take pride in the fact that we will present a complex and thorough treatment of our subject. As a reminder, the purposes of our film are to elevate Hungary’s Freedom Fight to its proper place in history as having had huge worldwide repercussions, and to commemorate a nation’s struggle for freedom.
* www.pestiside.hu/archives/hollywood_hungarian_in_casting_call_for_commie_monsters000471.php

As a woman filmmaker, I am apparently in good company. The February-March 2005 issue of Documentary International, the magazine of the International Documentary Association, is dedicated entirely to articles about women documentary filmmakers. Editor Thomas White says, “The documentary community is one of the few in the entire media arts spectrum in which women play a prominent role both artistically and managerially. Over the past 20 years women have carved out a niche in nonfiction programming and have helped to open up other opportunities for other women, both filmmakers and programmers. Compared to Hollywood, where a high-ranking female is still news, the nonfiction world is a haven.” He adds that most nonprofit organizations supporting documentary filmmaking are run by women (Assn. of Independent Video and Filmmakers, Independent Feature Project, Film Arts Foundation, the IDA itself); Women Make Movies was founded in 1972 to address the under-representation of women in the industry; now WMW facilitates production, promotion and exhibition, and also acts as a distributor. One article profiles female executives at Discovery Channel, Discovery Times, HBO, Independent Film Channel, MTV, PBS and Sundance Channel. “More and more women now run major television outlets for documentary film.” Paola Freccero, Sr. VP, Film Programming, Sundance Channel, suggests that documentary filmmaking is “a very human side of the film industry, and women identify with that.” Jane Root, Executive VP/General Manager, Discovery Channel, feels women may have a special gift for documentaries: “You have to form an emotional connection with your subject. It’s a skill to become invisible and put your ego aside to experience someone else’s life, and perhaps women are more able to do that.” An article about women in European TV quotes Ally Derks, Executive Director, International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam: “I think women are very good producers and organizers because we are good at taking care of the little details [and] multi-tasking; it’s probably something in our genes.” Dagmar Skopalik, head of international relations at ZDF (Germany) suggests women are generally more likely to seek work that they specifically care about and believe in. Ellen Kuras, also of ASC, seems to articulate my own reasons for producing Torn from the Flag exactly: “I went into documentaries because I wanted to make socially responsible movies. It was a way to…make a statement about the human condition.” (Articles quoted are by A. Van Hook, B. Baldwin, A. Olsen and B. Fisher.)

The project still needs and welcomes the following:

• For the US shoot, accommodations for 6 crew people for 3 days in New York City and Boston. Accommodations for 1 person for 2 days in Los Angeles. Drivers in the same cities, a rental van, as well as general helpers and camera crew volunteers in the same cities. Airline tickets or miles donated are also welcome. Professional lighting equipment in the given cities is also welcome. Professional sound crew people with equipment are also needed. We would love catering service in the given cities as well.
• Eventually we will need the same as above for our Brussels, Budapest, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rome shoots as well.
• A press and marketing specialist who is willing to donate his/her time and knowledge to the project.
• We are seeking ‘56-related, never-before- or seldom-published visual materials and mementos from Hungary from the 50's. These could be anything from buttons to postcards. We ask that you send us a list of what you have. We are interested in newspapers, but only if it was a special issue (e.g., a newspaper from the day Stalin died).
• We are seeking part-time volunteer translators (Russian, Italian, Turkish and French).
• Printers who are willing to reproduce PR materials (flyers, postcards, brochures, etc.).
• Office-related donations (printer/copy paper, envelopes, thank-you cards, printer cartridges, etc.).
• We are also seeking volunteer office helpers in the Los Angeles area.
• An airline sponsor.

You may recall that our film has non-profit status by virtue of its being sponsored by the International Documentary Association. I had the honor of being asked to speak on a panel at an IDA educational event for other documentary filmmakers, as apparently, according to the IDA, I am a “poster child” among their sponsored filmmakers for fundraising and pulling a community together for a mutual goal.

“Poster child” or not, we still do not have complete funding for the project. With the 50th anniversary approaching swiftly, acquiring as close to our full budget figure as possible is becoming extremely urgent. In order to be able to complete the film in time for the anniversary, and to create the quality film this subject deserves, we must complete the budget as soon as possible. We have begun shooting even so, and will continue as far as the current funds allow. We hope and trust that the worldwide Hungarian community will come through for this cause.

Donations are tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers, and we are pleased to announce that we have recently acquired non-profit status in Canada! As soon as we complete the paperwork I will send out detailed instructions on how Canadian donors may complete their transactions.

Additional financial opportunities are still available, as is the possibility to donate using your credit card (www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=78761) or by personal check. You may also donate stock; the International Documentary Association is able to handle the selling for you. Please contact us via email if interested.

If you supported Torn from the Flag last year, kindly consider matching your previous contribution in 2005. Tell your family and friends about the project, as well! Please, take action now and make your donation check PAYABLE TO the International Documentary Association, write “Torn from the Flag” in the memo section, and mail it to:

Klaudia Kovacs, Producer / Director
1626 North Wilcox Avenue #393
Hollywood, CA 90028

Thank you, once again, for your interest in and generous support of this important educational project.

Sincerely Yours,

Klaudia Kovacs
Producer, Director, Writer
www.klaudiainc.com
email: klaudiakovacs@msn.com