Budapest and the Story

from the perspective of a guy who films

Jo Truong
1 min readFeb 15, 2014

There, again I sat thinking about all the things, reasons, lives and histories of this city, of Budapest. On that thin, wobbling coffee table, my camera and a little book by Ishiguro. In that moment and to myself, I was consumed by people. The lives lost by war and the plights of those who remain. There, their forgiveness, contentment and simplicity biased my thinking and I began to think about myself and my occupation as someone who films.

My livelihood is unique to those close to me. I have chosen the shutters and pen as my occupation and my aspiration. Up until now, I’ve been extremely selfish with the stories I’ve chosen to tell. Actually, irritable and consumed by my craft that the easiness of the arts was lost within me. Often deliberating too much over the style and my authorial intent. However, sitting here and veering in and out of myself I realized that like the people in this city, I must make an effort to be simple and thoughtful with my story telling; be grounded by all the insecurities and excute with ease. Be appropriate, place the scene, the emotions and story above myself, and to not be aware of myself. A filmmaker, not unlike an author should never be aware of himself in his work. Not to move the camera just for cleverness’ sake, to forget about the style and simply express. To be Budapest, beautiful without pretension, to be a filmmaker without the title.

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Jo Truong

Co-founder of Cloud in the Sky Studios, Creative Director, Writer & Cinematographer — @jojohoco