Maria Takács had been awarded the Emma Goldman Snowball Award
We are proud to announce that one of our founding member and devoted activist have received the prestigious Emma Goldman Snowball Award for her crucial contribution in the past 25 years to
human rights as a feminist in Hungary. The Award was issued by the FLAX Foundation on the 8 September 2023 in Vienna at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen( Institute forHuman Sciences). She had been nominated by the sociologist Dr Judit Takacs.
The FLAX Foundation, which is based in the Netherlands, supports innovative research and knowledge on feminist and inequality issues within the EU. They award individuals since 2020,whom
provide a measurable contribution to society and social justice , in addition whom have a traceable record of collaboration, solidarity and originality, as well as the potential for future contribution to
research in the above fields.
This prize was named after Emma Goldman, who was a Russian born radical Jewish anarchist and political activist(1869-1940), who emigrated to the USA and resided predominantly in New York.
The above accolade had also been presented to the president of the Labrisz Association Dr Dorottya Redai in 2020.
One of the FLAX Foundation’s Board of Trustees Dr Mieke Verloo have emphasized Maria Takacs’s significant accomplishments as a documentary film director and producer to society and her
dedication to work with NGOs, LGBTQ+ organisations, mainly Labrisz and other civil rights movements.
Although typically she is a documentary film writer she have fulfilled the significant role of being an organiser and in addition one of the committee members for the annual Hungarian Verzio Human
Rights Film Festival. The latter had been established in 2003 in order to preserve and promote human rights via the medium of documentary films. Furthermore, since 2008 she had been
organising the Hilda Gobbi Film club and plays a vital role in organising other cultural activities.
Some of Maria Takacs’s international prize winning films include the Game on- Queer Disruptions in Sport(2019); Gay Men, Cold Dictatorship(2015)- both films won numerous international awards. Her
first feature-length film: Secret Lives(2009) encapsulates the lives of lesbians during the socialist regime in Hungary.
Maria Takacs have expressed her heartfelt thank you to the Hungarian LGBTQ+ community members, whom she had been collaboratively working in the past 25 years. She added:
“Without their contribution and their stories I would not have been able to direct my films. In today’s Hungary in spite of being a supposedly democratic country within the EU, LGBTQ+ people face oppression as a result of the government’s homophobic laws and anti-gay propaganda. However I am certain, that those of us who persevered and remained in Hungary despite the above described political climate will carry on our determined fight to further promote LGBT rights and equality. I shall utilise this honourable prize and capture further films which will aim to shed light on the government’s disgracefully gruelling attitude as well as howling injustice towards the LGBTQ+ community."
Respect and congratulations on receiving her award!
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