The travelogue The Danube Exodus documents the Jewish exodus from Slovakia just before the beginning of World War II. In two boats, a group of 900 Slovak, Austrian jews tried to reach the Black Sea via the river Danube, in order to get to Palestine and from there. The film is based on amateur films of Captain Nándor Andrásovits, the captain of one of the boats. He films his passenger while they prayed, slept and even got married. At the end of the journey, it is clear the boat will not return empty; a reverse exodus takes place, this time of repatriating Bessarabian German, fleeing to the Third Reich because of the Soviet invasion of Bessarabia.

biografia

Péter Forgács (1950) media artists and independent filmmaker, based in Budapest. Since 1978 he has made more than thirty films and several media installations. He is best known for his “Private Hungary” series of award winning films and installations often based on home movies from the 1920s-1980s, which document ordinary lives that were soon to be ruptures by an extraordinary historical trauma that occurs off screen. Since the early 1990s Forgács’ video installations have been presented at museums and art galleries throughout Europe and America. In 2007 Forgács was awarded with the most prestigious Dutch Erasmus Prize for his notable contribution to European culture. In 2009 he represented Hungary at the Venice Biennale, exhibiting the Col Tempo – The W. Project installation.

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