Inheritance: A Fisherman’s Story

Synopsis

In the year 2000, the Hungarian river Tisza is flooded with tons of cyanide from an Australian-Romanian gold mine. The poisonous chemical causes an environmental disaster, killing over 1200 tons of fish and devastating the river’s eco-system. Fishermen like Balazs Meszaros struggle to survive. In this hopelessness, Balazs travels to Australia to meet with the mining company responsible, to discuss compensation and present them with the human tragedy at hand. He must save his people and preserve a way of life.

Impact

As a result of the SBS screening of the film, the filmmaker received over 100 emails from people wanting to donate money to the fishermen whose livelihoods were devastated by the disaster. One person was a shareholder of the responsible mining company for causing the disaster: "We have 1000 shares in a company called Eurogold Limited, which formerly was Esmeralda Exploration Pty Ltd. Today we will sell these shares, and would like to donate the proceeds to Balazs or the Fishermens Co-op” (Dixon 2004, email to Hegedus).

The film had extensive exposure overseas including being short listed for the Academy Awards for best documentary. Peter believes documentary filmmakers have a responsibility to shed light on issues and contribute to a healthy dialogue that aims to make this world a better place.

The film has screened at the following festivals:
2005 WILD & SCENIC ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL - USA: SPRIRT OF ACTIVISM AWARD; PORTLAND INT NATURE & ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL - USA BEST ENVIRONMENTAL FILM - AWARDED; DOXA DOCUMENTARY FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL - CANADA SCREENING; FILM CRITICS CIRCLE OF AUSTRALIA AWARDS - AUS; REAL LIFE ON FILM - AUSTRALIA BEST DOC FEATURE; GLOBAL PEACE FILM FESTIVAL - USA FIRST PRIZE AWARD; INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FILM FESTIVAL - HUNGARY AWARDED - SPECIAL JURY PRIZE; VISIONS DU REEL FESTIVAL - SWITZERLAND; MARGARET MEAD FILM FESTIVAL - USA