About ARKION	ARKION is a non-profit corporation dedicated to producing educational multimedia including documentary films and video. Our current projects are focused on the history of science, biographies of scientists, and education.
Production	Tennessee: Bill Armstrong, John Fairstein, Chip Mahood, Ben Wohlwend New York: Garius Hill, Larry Farrell
Advisors	Dr. Jeff Dobson, Dr. John Efteland, Colvin Idol, Jerry Kremer, Dr. William Lanouette, Dr. Norman Magden, Jennifer Morton, Roy Scott, Virginia White, Dr. Alvin Weinberg
Ordering	Click here for PDF order form.
Projects	Budapest: A Martian Landing This documentary video project focuses on Budapest Hungary in the early part of this century. Our objective is to introduce U.S. viewers to the rich culture of Budapest in the early part of the century and to some of the brilliant Hungarians who grew up there. The target audience is from age 12 and above, with no advanced educational background required. The documentary is being produced in English, however adding subtitles and/or over-dubbing to accommodate other languages is a longer term goal. The 2 to 3 hour documentary examines Budapest's dynamic cultural environment, growing economy, highly advanced educational system, and other factors that contributed to the development of scientists, artists, musicians, authors, architects, teachers, and others. The documentary will also look at recent changes in Budapest as the result of the resurgence of capitalism in the 1990s. The documentary will briefly introduce a number of artists, authors, musicians and others, then will focus on six scientists born around the turn of the century. The brilliance of these scientists was so astounding that a legend grew that they were actually from Mars. This "Martian" theme will be used to begin the documentary, and will run as a thread throughout the production. These scientists, born about a mile from the center of Budapest, are Eugene Wigner, John von Neumann, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Dennis Gabor, and George von Békésy. Three of the scientists received the Nobel Prize for their contributions. The conclusion of the documentary dismisses the "Martian" theory and puts forth the idea that not only were these Budapesters human, but that there are probably humans amongst us with similar potentialities. Release - A draft tape of the Introduction and Szilard segments of this documentary video was released for limited review in May 2003. Contributors
	Martian in Motion: Leo Szilard This 34 minute documentary video opens with animation and narration describing Hungarian-American Leo Szilard's discovery of the "bit," the smallest unit of information and points out the significance of this discovery to our modern "digital" world. The segment then presents Szilard's life in the context of the times from birth in Budapest, through World War I, his education, his work in atomic energy, and his later years as a visionary biologist. Interviews with physicists Dr. Alvin Weinberg and Dr. Frederick Seitz, and Szilard's biographer, Dr. William Lanouette, reveal eclectic Szilard ‘The Person’ as well as describe his diverse contributions. Release - Available on DVD. Purchase at the American Museum of Science and Energy or click here for PDF order form.
	Perspectives on Hungarian Education with Virginia White At an age when most people have retired, Virginia White joined the Peace Corps in 1992. She was assigned to the eastern European country of Hungary where she taught high school English for the next 2 years. Fascinated with the country, Virginia stayed on as a visitor for another 6 years. During that time she witnessed Hungary's miraculous transformation from a repressed former communist satellite to a modern democratic capitalist country. In this video interview, Ms. White discusses some of her experiences and offers some comparisons between the communist education system of 1948 - 1990 with the changes beginning in about 1990. Release - Available on VHS. Click here for PDF order form.
	For more information, please e-mail: ARKION 07-11-04

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