FACT SHEET - American Public Television



FACT SHEET

TITLE: HARD PROBLEMS:

THE ROAD TO THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST MATH CONTEST

[pic] [16:9 SD Letterbox]

LENGTH: 1x60

NOLA: HPMC 000 SD-Base Revision 001

CATEGORY: Documentary / Cultural / Education

OFFERED: Spring 2009

RELEASE DATES: SD-Base: October 4, 2009

HD-Base: October 6, 2009

RIGHTS TERMS: Unlimited releases to be completed by October 3, 2013.

Additional rights granted: noncommercial cable, one-year school re-record, simulcast and video-on-demand.

PRODUCER: George Csicsery

NATIONAL DISTRIBUTOR: American Public Television (APT)

PRESENTER: APT Presentations

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Hard Problems follows the six exceptional high school students who represented the United States in 2006 at the world's toughest math competition — the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Each year, the grueling and exhilarating contest pits the top teams from 90 countries against one another. In their quest to solve some of the most challenging problems, these dedicated and talented young men and women — some immigrants, others U.S.-born — shatter many stereotypes and clichés about the mathematically gifted. Hard Problems provides an insightful and thoughtful look at the process that produces and nurtures successful Olympiad teams, and ultimately, the great mathematicians of the future.

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HARD PROBLEMS /2 FACT SHEET

PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS: Use above for listing. Also included: a press release, producer biography and educational resource listing. Visit to download photos. View the trailer at .

COPYRIGHT DATE: ©2009 Zala Films

PRODUCTION CREDITS: Produced by Zala Films and the Mathematical Association of America. Director: George Csicsery.

NATIONAL UNDERWRITERS: Penn Oberlander Foundation

Ellington Management Group

The National Science Foundation

BROADCAST HISTORY: U.S. television premiere

SCHEDULING SUGGESTION: April marks Mathematics Awareness Month

RELATED MERCHANDISE: Viewers: This program is available on DVD for $24.95, plus shipping and handling. To order, call (800) 331-1622 or visit . Catalog Code: HPR

VIEWER INQUIRIES: Zala Films

(510) 428-9284

hardproblems@

WEB SITE:

STATION RELATIONS: Cynthia Zeiden

Zeiden Media

415-864-6305

Cynthia@

PUBLICITY: Dawn Anderson

American Public Television

(617) 338-4455, ext. 149

dawn_anderson@

7/15/09

CONTACT: Dawn Anderson

(617) 338-4455, ext. 149

dawn_anderson@

PRESS RELEASE

HARD PROBLEMS:

THE ROAD TO THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST MATH CONTEST

America’s Top Math Students Vie for International Honors

(Boston, MA – July 15, 2009) Hard Problems follows the six exceptionally gifted high school students who represented the United States at the 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) — the world's most challenging math competition. Although American students on the whole rank well behind many countries in mathematics, U.S. math Olympians regularly finish among the top.

The documentary, airing on public television stations nationwide beginning in October 2009 (check local listings), captures their mathematical quest. It is a grueling and exhilarating experience, during which the beauty of mathematics unites contestants from 90 different countries around the world.

The U.S. team is comprised of Chinese immigrants Yi Sun and Alex Zhai, Ryan Ko from Korea, and U.S.-born Arnav Tripathy, Zachary Abel and Zeb Brady. Despite their differences, this diverse group of students shares not only a love of mathematics but also parents who nurtured and supported their mathematical genius.

Hard Problems shows the dedication, perseverance and passion of these talented high school students, the rigorous preparation they undertake and their joy in solving challenging problems. In the process, Hard Problems shatters many stereotypes and clichés about the mathematically gifted.

While aiming to inspire and entertain, Hard Problems provides an insightful and thoughtful look at the process that produces successful teams, and ultimately, the great mathematicians of the future.

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HARD PROBLEMS /2 PRESS RELEASE

Produced in 2008 by George Paul Csicsery in association with the Mathematical Association of America, Hard Problems: The Road to the World’s Toughest Math Contest is presented by American Public Television through the Exchange service at no cost to public television stations nationwide.

Director George Paul Csicsery’s previous public television special, N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdös, profiled the life and work of one of the world’s most prolific mathematicians. In 2009 Csicsery received the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics Communications Award for bringing mathematics to nonmathematical audiences.

American Public Television

With more than 10,000 hours of programming in its library, American Public Television (APT) has been a prime source of programming for the nation’s public television stations for 48 years, distributing more than 300 new programs per year. In 2006, APT launched Create – the TV channel featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming. Known for its leadership in identifying innovative, worthwhile and viewer-friendly programming, APT has established a tradition of providing public television stations with program choices that strengthen and customize their schedules, such as Rick Steves' Europe, Worldfocus, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, Sara's Weeknight Meals, America's Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Doc Martin, Lidia's Family Table, Rosemary and Thyme, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home, The Big Comfy Couch, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Monarchy With David Starkey, Spain...on the road Again, and other prominent documentaries, dramatic series, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies. For more information about APT’s programs and services, visit .

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TEACHER RESOURCE MATERIALS

American Mathematics Competitions

This site includes problems from the most recent USA Mathematics Olympiad, Teachers’ Manuals with solutions from the previous year’s Olympiad competition,  order forms for CDs with problems with solutions of past exams,  t-shirts and the Hard Problems DVD and links to related sites.

The Art of Problem Solving

This site offers online classes for talented math students to hone their problem solving skills, an online community of more than 40,000 members, an online math game and a bookstore featuring items related to problem solving and many links.

Count Down: The Race for Beautiful Solutions at the International Mathematical Olympiad

Steve Olson’s book is about the 2001 U.S.A International Mathematics Olympiad team members and the solutions to some of the problems.

The NRICH Project

The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

FILMMAKER BIOGRAPHY

GEORGE PAUL CSICSERY

George Paul Csicsery, a writer and independent filmmaker since 1968, was born in Germany in 1948 and immigrated to the United States in 1951. He has directed 26 films — dramatic shorts, performance films and documentaries.

His two most recent works both involve mathematical themes. Julia Robinson and Hilbert’s Tenth Problem, a one-hour biographical documentary about an American mathematician’s role in solving one of the 20th century’s most famous mathematics problems, premiered in January 2008. The project was supported by the Clay Mathematics Institute and by Margaret & Will Hearst. Hard Problems: The Road to the World’s Toughest Math Contest follows the American high school students who participated in the 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Csicsery’s recent films include The Right Spin (2005), about astronaut Michael Foale and his part in saving the Mir space station in 1997 and The Thursday Club (2005), an hour-long documentary about the retired Oakland policemen involved in suppressing the anti-war demonstrations of the 1960s. Hungry for Monsters (2003), a feature documentary about a Pennsylvania case of false accusation of incest and child molestation, was shown at the Bermuda International Film Festival and in the Human Rights section of the 57th Locarno International Film Festival in 2004. Teacher’s TV in the UK also broadcast the film in 2006. In 2003, he completed Invitation to Discover for the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI). porridge pulleys and Pi, a half-hour biographical film on mathematicians Hendrik Lenstra and Vaughan Jones, premiered at the Teléscience Festival in Montréal, Canada in November 2003 and at the Exploratorium in March 2004. Troop 214 (1997), about exiled Hungarian Scouts in the United States and their return to Hungary, and Communist Pioneers, was co-produced with Duna-TV in Budapest, Hungary, and broadcast in November 2000. An English-subtitled version with English-speaking bonus features was released in November 2008.

N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdös (1993), about an eccentric wandering mathematician, aired on Duna-TV, Hungary (1995), SBS-Australia (1996), the Sundance Channel-USA (1996-98), NHK-Japan (1997) and on Noorderlicht (VPRO-Netherlands) in January 2001 and later on Zomergasten (VPRO-Netherlands) in 2007. The film is currently airs on American Public Television stations (2002-2012) and Discovery Canada (2003-2004).

Csicsery produced, directed and edited Where the Heart Roams (1987), a feature documentary about romance writers and their fans, broadcast on PBS’ POV series (1991) and SBS-Australia. Television: The Enchanted Mirror (1981), which received prizes at the Marin, Mill Valley, Palo Alto and USA film festivals, was re-released by Whole Earth Films in 2008 on DVD. Half-hour 16mm films include: Hookers (1975), about prostitutes organizing a union in San Francisco; Let's Get It Over With! (1970), about American student reactions to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and People of the Current (1971), about the Muslim Tausug people of Luuk township on Jolo island in the Philippines. Csicsery also worked on films by Errol Morris (Gates of Heaven) and Barbet Schroeder (Koko).

Songs Along a Stony Road, a one-hour documentary about musicians discovered by Transylvanian ethnomusicologist Zoltán Kallós, is scheduled for release in 2009. Filmed during 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2006 with co-producer Chris Teerink of the Netherlands, the project was supported by CEC/ArtsLink, National Geographic’s All Roads Film initiative and the Nederlands Thuiskopie Fonds. A fine cut of the film screened as part of National Geographic’s Tuesdays at Noon series in Washington, D.C. on August 26, 2008.

George Csicsery authored and co-authored four feature-length screenplays: Ida (1989), Meeting With Darkness (1992), East of Evil (1995) and Alderman’s Story, set in King Philip's War in New England in 1675, which was awarded first prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival Screenplay Competition in 2005. Csicsery's articles, reviews and interviews have appeared in , Amerasia Journal, Asia Times, Heterodoxy, Film Quarterly, California Magazine, Savvy, the San Jose Mercury-News, the San Francisco Chronicle, the East Bay Express, the Oakland Tribune, The Japan Times, The Forward, Lufthansa Bordbuch, Release Print and many other publications. His articles and interviews have been reprinted in several anthologies, including Conversations with Ishmael Reed, University of Mississippi Press (1995); Without Force or Lies, edited by William Brinton, Mercury House (1990); Burden of Dreams by Les Blank & James Bogan, North Atlantic Books (1984). He has a BA in Comparative Religions from UC Berkeley (1969) and an MFA in Film Production from San Francisco State University (1972).

Csicsery received the 2009 Joint Policy Board for Mathematics Communications Award for bringing mathematics to nonmathematical audiences. He also received the 2008 Arpad Academy Gold Medal awarded by The Hungarian Association. This award is presented to Hungarians and their descendants living outside of Hungary, in recognition of scholarly, scientific, literary, and artistic achievements promoting the spirit and knowledge of Hungarian culture.

He taught film editing at Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco (1982-1997) and general cinema courses to undergraduates at San Francisco State University (1996) and at UC Davis (1998). He lives in Oakland, California. More information about George Csicsery’s films can be found at

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