Jürgen Vsych () is an American filmmaker and author, known as the writer-director of the films ''Pay Your Rent, Beethoven'', which won the

Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

Award, ''Son for Sail,'' ''Ophelia Learns to Swim,'' and ''Tyrannosaurus Tex.'' Her films have been shown in forty-nine film festivals in thirty countries. Vsych's journal was included in the book '' World Cinema: Diary of a Day''. Vsych is the author of ''The Wroughten Director'' and the historical novel ''Captain Death.''

Wroughten Movies

Wroughten Movies, Vsych's production company, derives from the word "wrought", and is also a wordplay on "rot." The company's motto is, "Not the same old rot." In her autobiography, ''The Wroughten Director'', Vsych writes: "When I was learning to read, I tried sounding out the name of a sign I saw on Venice Boulevard, 'WROUGHT IRON.' Mom said it was pronounced 'rot,' and it meant that the iron was very good, very well-crafted. Later that afternoon, I went to nursery school and painted with Matilda Gomez. When Matilda painted a really good picture of a boat, I said, 'That's wroughten.' She said, 'It is NOT!' and stabbed me in the eye with her paintbrush.".

''The Woman Director''

''The Woman Director: The Adventures of a Really Independent Filmmaker Ages 6–36'' by Jürgen Vsych is the first

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

of an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

female

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. It is only the third memoir ever written by a woman director (the other two are by Alice Guy Blache and

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...

), and it is the first written in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. It is based on Vsych's 17,256-paged diary and describes how she graduated from making one-minute

Super 8 Super 8 or Super Eight may refer to: Film * Super 8 film, a motion picture film format released in 1965 * Super 8 film camera, a motion picture camera used to film Super 8mm motion picture format * ''Super 8'' (2011 film), a science-fiction fi ...

films financed with baby-sitting money and edited with her father's toenail clippers, to writing, directing & producing the 35mm feature film ''Ophelia Learns to Swim''.

Partial filmography

Writer-director-producer

*''Ophelia Learns to Swim'' - starring Julia Lee, George Gray and

Hilary Shepard Hilary Shepard (born Hilary Shapiro on December 10, 1959), alternately billed as Hilary Shepard-Turner, is an American actress and singer. She began her career in the mid 1980s, as co-lead singer and percussionist in the girl group American Girls ...

*''

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...

Crashes the Two Parties'' (2004, Nader for President 2004 Campaign Biography) *''Son for Sail'' starring John Vickery * ''Pay Your Rent, Beethoven'' (1992) - Winner of

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

Award. *"The Music Scholarship" (1989) *"Tyrannosaurus Tex" (1974) *"Go To Your Tomb, Young Lady" (1973) *"The Rocks Go On A Picnic" (1972)"A Night of Women Film Directors" Program Edinburgh Film Theatre September 1992

Bibliography

*''Captain Death'' (2021) Historical novel *''The Woman Director'' (2006) autobiography, *''What Was Ralph Nader Thinking?'' (2008) biography of the consumer advocate and presidential candidate,

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vsych, Jurgen Film directors from California Vsych,Jurgen American women film directors 21st-century American novelists Living people American historical novelists 21st-century American women writers American women historical novelists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American screenwriters