Jurgen Vsych

Jürgen Vsych (pronounced Yurgen VY-zick) made her first film at age 5. It was shot on Super-8 and edited with her father's toenail clippers. Jürgen's films have screened at 42 film festivals in 29 countries. "Pay Your Rent, Beethoven," her 27th featurette, was made in Glasgow, won the Prince's Trust Award, and was distributed in Europe, the U.S. and Canada, paired with the Jane Austen comedy, "Persuasion." Her short "$on for Sail" aired on Britain's Channel Four and on America's PBS. She wrote and directed the cult feature comedy "Ophelia Learns to Swim." Jürgen's books include "Captain Death," a novel about piracy on the eve of the American Revolution, "The Woman Director," the first-ever autobiography of an American female film director, and "What Was Ralph Nader Thinking?" about her adventures as the famed consumer safety advocate's filmmaker and photographer. Vsych's journal was included in the book "World Cinema: Diary of a Day." Jürgen apprenticed as a director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Old Vic, BBC-Scotland, The Old Globe, and Scottish Opera with Sir Jonathan Miller. Vsych financed her early films by working as a professional bagpiper, performing for military funerals and busking around the world. She also plays guitar, tenor sax, tuba, cello, and harpsichord, and her films are known for their eclectic original soundtracks Vsych has written a feature-length screenplay of "Captain Death" and "Pay Your Rent, Beethoven," as well as ten other features, specializing in historical action-adventures. She lives on a schooner, sailing the Seven Seas and the Hudson, Mississippi, Potomac, and Delaware. Vsych's other shorts include "Ralph Nader Crashes The Two Parties" (a mock debate using Bush and Kerry's own words from the 2004 presidential debates), "Tyrannosaurus Tex," and "Go to Your Tomb, Young Lady."