Zsuzsanna Gellér-Varga is a documentary filmmaker and content-producer for 20 years. She is based in Budapest, Hungary.
Gellér-Varga began her career as a freelance journalist at various Hungarian newspapers, magazines and television channels (Népszabadság, Readers’ Digest, MTV, Nap TV). She then became a news reporter at a daily evening news program in Budapest (TV3).
She received a master’s degree in journalism in 2000 at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley as a Fulbright scholar. Her thesis documentary (Screw Your Courage) won awards at US film festivals (Best Documentary Short 2001 – Atlanta Film Festival, Best Short Doc – 2002 DocSide Filmfestival) and was broadcast on public TV in the San Francisco Bay area.
Gellér-Varga then worked for New York Times Television as a video-journalist on several documentary series about the trials and tribulations of doctors and hospitals in various U.S. cities.
She returned to Budapest in 2001 and has since contributed to independent documentary films. (From Home To Home – Valahol otthon lenni, 2003. Take Three – Harmadik találkozás, 2004. Director: Tamás Almási. Journey Home, 2007, Incubator, 2009, Cold Warriors, 2017. Director: Réka Pigniczky)
She also directs and films her own documentaries (Once They Were Neighbours, 2005. Synagogue For Sale, 2007. Mr. Mom, 2009. Angel Business, 2019.), which have been well received at international filmfestivals and broadcasted by Hungarian Television and Duna TV (public service channels in Hungary).
Since 2015 she has been the head tutor of Verzio DocLab, a rough-cut workshop at the Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. Between 2013-2015 she taught documentary ethics at the international masters program, DocNomads at the University of Theater and Film Arts in Budapest. She got her D.L.A. degree at the same university in 2018.
Zsurló Film Ltd.
Zsurló Film Ltd. is a documentary film production company that produces historic and contemporary subject non-fiction programming for broadcast and cable. In the last few years Zsurló Film Ltd. partnered with other production companies in producing feature length documentaries (see Filmography).
Besides documentaries the company also produces videos for non-profit organizations. Clients include: National Association for Premature Babies, European Youth Centre, Kindergarten of the Municipality of Budapest, MONA – Foundation for Women in Hungary. The videos are used for awareness-raising, community outreach and fundraising. (See Other works).