RE-VERZIO Documentary Film Series

February -March 2010
OSA Archivum
BudapestV, Arany János u. 32.
www.osaarchivum.org ( http://www.osaarchivum.org/ )

OSA Archivum and Verzio Film Festival present 6 outstanding documentaries that were the most popular films of the 6th Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (www.verzio.ceu.hu ). Do not miss this rare opportunity to watch this selection of the newest award-winning documentaries for free!

Where: OSA Archivum, Budapest V, Arany János u. 32.
When: Wednesdays, 6 PM
Films are screened in original language AND English subtitles.
admission free

Downloadable Program

 

Wednesday, March 10, 6 PM
Carmen Meets Borat
Mercedes Stalenhoef, The Netherlands, 2008, 85’
Roma village turned upside down by the shooting of the Kazah episode of Sasha Baron Cohen’s Borat.

17-year-old Carmen lives in a gypsy village in Romania, where the men spend their days tying one on and exchanging coarse words in her father's bar. In the evenings, she watches a Spanish soap opera and dreams of a better life in Spain, where the men are romantic and decent. Her plan to emigrate falls to pieces when an American film crew descends on her village to shoot Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The villagers don't understand a single word of English and laugh in good faith for the camera. This footage is later presented in Borat as the supposedly Kazakh home village of the protagonist, with local inhabitants featuring as primitive caricatures. Carmen's grandfather poses for the camera with a welding apparatus and is presented as an abortion expert. A woman Borat embraces is introduced as his sister and one of the best whores in Kazakhstan. When the film is released, the world press throws itself on the village and jealousy and suspicion triumph. The chaos is made complete when an American lawyer holds out the prospect of a $30 million insurance claim to the villagers. Enchanted by the financial prospects, the villagers – among them Carmen’s father - set out on a world odyssey in search of the offender. Meanwhile, Carmen’s life is taking an unexpected turn.