Hard Problems: The Road to the World's Toughest Math Contest

undefined

Product Description ------------------- Hard Problems is about the extraordinary gifted students who represented the United States in 2006 at the world s toughest math competition: The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). It is the story of six American high school students who competed with 500 others from 90 countries in Ljublijana, Slovenia. The film shows the dedication and perseverance of these remarkably talented students, the rigorous preparation they undertake, and the joy they get out of solving challenging math problems. It captures the spirit that infuses the mathematical quest at the highest level. The DVD provides two versions of the documentary: the feature that runs 82 minutes, and a classroom version that runs 45 minutes. BONUS FEATURE SEQUENCES Mathematicians in finance (11:16) Families and schooling (15:55) Girls and the IMO (17:03) History of the IMO (7:12) USA and IMO Olympiads 2006-2007 problems and answers - an 82 pp pdf that shows problems and solutions from the competition. Funding for Hard Problems was provided by a grant from The Penn Oberlander Family Foundation and Ellington Management Group, L.L.C. Cinematogrphy: Skip Sweeney and Andras Toth Szollos. Editor, Tal Skloot. Music by Todd Boekelheide and Alex Liu. About the Director ------------------ 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 are both on mathematical themes. Julia Robinson and Hilbert s Tenth Problem, a one-hour biographical documentary about an American mathematician and her part in solving one of the 20th century s most famous mathematics problems premiered in January 2008. The project is partially supported by the Clay Mathematics Institute and by Margaret & Will Hearst. Other recent films include The Right Spin (2005), about astronaut Michael Foale and his part in saving the Mir space station in 1997, made for Math Awareness Month, and The Thursday Club (2005) an hour-long documentary about retired Oakland men who were involved in suppressing the antiwar demonstrations of the 1960s George Csicsery is the author and co-author of four feature-length screenplays: He has 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.