THE RESTLESS HUNGARIAN
Film Screening and Conversation with Director Tom Weidlinger

The Restless Hungarian (2021) is a personal narrative set against the backdrop of the Hungarian Jewish diaspora, the rise of Modernism, and the Cold War. The film centers on Paul Weidlinger, one of the most important structural engineers of the twentieth century who created the strength behind iconic skyscrapers, churches, museums, embassies, and monumental sculptures by Picasso, Noguchi, and Dubuffet. Early in his career, he broke from mainstream modernism with his concept of the “Joy of Space”.

Behind his professional success, however, was a deeply troubled private life marked by loss, denial, and family tragedy. As the filmmaker—his son—begins to explore Paul’s past, the story shifts into a deeply personal journey across continents, uncovering hidden Jewish roots and the family’s suffering during the Holocaust. Through this process, he confronts painful memories, including mental illness and suicide within his family, and ultimately arrives at a more compassionate understanding of his father.

On April 24, join film director Tom Weidlinger in conversation with Rachel Stern about The Restless Hungarian, a documentary film about his father Paul Weidlinger, one of the most important structural engineers of the twentieth century.

Tom Weidlinger is a writer and filmmaker with over 35 years of experience directing and producing documentaries—from the emotional development of boys to humanitarian aid in Congo—often centered on social justice. He produced six full-length documentaries for public television with support from the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, including Jim Thorpe, The World’s Greatest Athlete, which aired more than 4,000 times and explores Thorpe’s assertion of his American Indian identity in the face of cultural erasure.

In the 1990s, Weidlinger received a major grant from the Independent Television Service (ITVS) to create Making Peace, a four-hour series on grassroots efforts to address the roots of violence, along with a pioneering online activism campaign. Earlier, inspired by Václav Havel, he documented post-communist Czechoslovakia in After the Velvet Revolution, filmed over four years in Prague. After founding Moira Productions in 1987, he transitioned to independent filmmaking and produced archival documentaries for PBS’s The American Experience, including The Great San Francisco Earthquake, which premiered in the series’ first season.