Prizes: 2004 - Budapest Hungarian Film Week Best Film in "Film Sociography" Category

Inheritance: A Fisherman’s Story (Örökség: Egy halász története) (2003, documentary, video, colour, 74 min.) Director: Péter Hegedűs, Péter Hegedűs Screenplay: Péter Hegedűs Reporter: Péter Hegedűs Editor: Péter Hegedűs Director of photography: Attila Csoboth, Péter Hegedűs, Mátyás Erdély, Jason Heargraves Editor: Tony Stevens Music: András Monori Production manager: Gabrielle Jones Producer: Attila Várai Jeges, Péter Hegedűs Production company: Soul Vision Films Pty Ltd, JAVA Film Cast: Balázs Mészáros Balázs Mészáros and generations of his family have lived from fishing on the River Tisza for two hundred years. This was ended by the cyanide pollution in 2000, which killed 130,000 tons of fish in the river, destroying its ecological balance. The poison came from a gold mine, which was in Australian and Romanian hands. After the catastrophe in Chernobyl, this was the second most serious environmental disaster in Eastern Europe, caused by man. More than a year after the river was poisoned, there is still no fish in it. The fishermen, among them Balázs Mészáros, get very little support from the state and they are struggling to make ends meet in harsh circumstances. Balázs would like to preserve the memories of the fishermen’s lifestyle, so he started a book called ”My Heritage”. He wants to let the world know how he lived as a fisherman, to share his desperate situation after the catastrophe, and understand his present struggles. In order to understand what has happened to him and his fellow fishermen he travels to Romania to see where exactly the cyanide came from, and he would like to find out what the risks are of another similar accident happening. With support from his fellow fishermen Balázs decides to travel to Australia as well to meet the managers of the Esmeralda Company face to face. He wants to call their attention to the human tragedies behind the catastrophe and discuss a possible compensation scheme; he also tells them about his worries concerning the future safety of the mine. Handing over an ancient fisherman’s knife to Brett Montgomery, the director of the company, is of vital importance, since this knife represents the life of generations of fishermen. Balázs realises he has to find the closing chapter, the closing lines, for his book, which will determine his fate both as a fisherman and as a family man. Festivals: 2004 - Budapest Hungarian Film Week (in competition)