Hudson, America: Free Screening

Conversations with Neighbors presents the documentary film, “Hudson, America,” followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Zuzka Kurtz.

No charge, reservations requested.

“Hudson, America” (2022, 101 minutes), Co-directed by Zuzka Kurtz and Geoffrey Hug, follows six Gen-Z Bangladeshi American immigrants living in Hudson, NY. The unexpected political events of 2016 to 2022 derailed the joyous college trajectory for these young people, propelling them to confront anti-immigrant sentiments, their conservative parents’ ideas of “The American Dream,” and the true cost of forbidden love. For six years, filmmakers Kurtz and Hug followed the students as they bid farewell to their reclusive community and arrived in an unfamiliar world.

Czech born artist/filmmaker Zuzka Kurtz lives in New York City. Her short films with Geoffrey Hug include “7 Ways 2 Skin A Cat” (2013), screened at Anthology Film Archives in NYC, “Eat Something” and “The Seamstress”(2015), which were both winners of Best Shorts in Milan and Rome International Film Festivals, and “Multi-Species Family” at the Carnegie Mellon Museum in Pittsburgh. Her first award-winning short documentary “Blade #1,” also produced in collaboration with Geoffrey Hug, was screened in various international film festivals, on Amazon Prime, and PBS.

Conversations with Neighbors is an occasional series designed to spark neighbor-to-neighbor conversations and celebrate the richness and diversity of the Columbia County community. “This year’s Conversations with Neighbors theme is ‘Looking for America.’ We are delighted to kick off the program with this screening of ‘Hudson, America,’” says Lisa Bouchard Hoe, chair of the Conversations with Neighbors Committee. “The film asks: what is it like to be a Muslim teen in America today? It’s an eye opener about the diverse community we live in and may not notice as we go about our day-to-day lives. All of us— native born or immigrants—are feeling that we no longer recognize our country and the values that once defined us. Our hope is that looking at the wealth of diversity around us will help us forge a path back together.”

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.