To begin my DREAM….

Hi Everyone!

My name is Fanni Forgács. I am a 19-year-old Hungarian student. I want to be a film/theatre director and screenwriter. I have been accepted to the program named “BFA in Cinema” at Columbia College Hollywood. The problem is that even though I have received a scholarship from the institution, I am still unable to afford the cost of my attendance. With the tuition, insurances and other living costs - according to the estimated costs sent by CCH - I will need $25,000. I come from a single parent family with 5 siblings, so my mother could not pay my studies. My grandparents and godparents will help me, but unfortunately, this price is not available with our budget.

But why am I doing this? Here's my story:

When I was a child, I could not disturb my grandmother, Ancsi, and my great-grandmother, Böbe, during the tv-series, Dallas. I remember clearly those summer mornings, when I (who talked all the time) had to keep quiet until the episode was over. For they unfortunate, I rarely stopped talking. I had always loved telling stories. If I managed to stay silent, I created worlds in front of my eyes, span the yarns, painted unknown characters - a whole movie was in my head and I could not wait to tell them. After they had watched the tv series, I stood up and started to perform what I had been thinking about. I started a story with the title of “Fanni, the fantastic detective”. I put on my grandfather’s hat with his sunglasses and I became the detective. Then I became the robber by taking them off and putting on a mask. I can still recall their faces, how hard they laughed. It was not the performance what I loved about it; it was the process of creating it and the effect of it on them. When I create, write a story, I start somewhere, but I end up in a completely different place. It is unpredictable. It lets me discover the unexploited mind, the endless, creative possibilities. During those mornings with Ancsi and Böbe, I realized that creating and telling stories were everything I would ever want to do in my life. However, back then, I only thought about it as a hobby. Later on, in primary school I directed my first play what I had written. That was the time, when the conscience stroke me and I knew: that was the profession which was mine. I felt like what I did, revealed who I was. My form teacher have always told us to find a profession which is also our passion, because you will never hate or get bored by the things you love. You will wake up every morning with butterflies in your stomach because you can do what makes you, you. When I made my first miniature film I woke up with this excitement - the excitement of telling a new story. I want to spend the rest of my life with writing and directing - making people see, smell, hear, feel, but most importantly experience. I apply for BFA Cinema at Columbia College with the emphasis of directing, because I strongly believe that this way I can become the professional I want to be. After I graduate I want to start an MFA program to learn as much about directing as I can. Furthermore, I want to become a screenwriter, because I want to share all the stories I have heard or created. I want to speak more languages; apart from English and Spanish - learn French, Italian, Russian and Portuguese. At least once in my lifetime, I want to direct in every language I speak. I have been working for these dreams for 6 years and I will never stop fight for them, because this is the only way I can do what I love and be who I am. Sometimes, when I close my eyes and imagine the things I want to do, I feel like I were that little girl in the old house’s living room. I take a deep breath; I can smell the perfume of acacia, feel the warmness of summer, hear the bird chirping and their laugh. And I know: that is the experience what I want to relive over and over again every time I tell a story - that authentic agitation.

I have never thought about fundraising, but I have tried everything else, thus this is my last chance to be able to go to college this year. This is my dream. Every night in the last 6 years I went to sleep with thought that one day I would do what I love. Please help me to be able to live my dream!

Thank you!

Fanni