Motivation Daily by Motiversity - NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE - The Most Motivational Interview | Attila Korosi

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! The Most Motivational Interview with Filmmaker Attila Korosi. This is how he went from a war torn country to a college athlete with a full scholarship and now a filmmaker in America."When I told people I want to go to America to make the greatest movies, they reacted as if I said I want to be an Astronaut and fly to Mars. Life is all about perspectives...Growing up in a war is not as bad as you might think. At least for a kid. People are kinder, closer, and everyone gives you candy. Schools are often closed and you get to play soccer, basketball, and hide and seek all day long. Now, don’t think I’m pro war or anything like that it is just as I said, life is about perspectives. War was given to me and I will make the best out of it. Regardless of your circumstances and the obstacles you might be facing, the human mind is built to do wonders. Everything else is just an excuse. Remember that!" - Attila Korosi, writer and director, known for City Full of Angels (2015), In His Shadow (2012) and Maze of Fate.Speaker:Attila KorosiMusic:Borrtex Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello listeners, Motivirity is excited to share that we have launched a new podcast called Morning Motivation by Motivore. If you are looking to start your day with positivity and the most uplifting motivational audio, this is the show for you. For today's episode of Motivation Daily by Motivority Podcast, we are sharing a recent episode from the Morning Motivation Podcasts. If you like it, go follow the show. New episodes are being released every week. The link is in the description. So just take us through your journey. Who is Attila Karosi?

And how did you get here? Well, my journey started about 30 years ago. I was born in a country called Yugoslavia. And the first four years of my life were actually pretty good. My dad had the VHS business and he was very much into art. And as a result, he made me more. all the Louis Bunyuel movies, all the Akira Kurosawa movies, and you're like it's a high classics,

and when you watch those movies and you're four years old, you have no idea what's going on. But sometimes, somehow, you know, I was really attracted to it and it really got into my subconsciousness, like I felt that emotion, you know? And I was watching everything I was consuming. So the first four or five years of my life were really good. And then out of nowhere, like a great, long-lasting war

struck my country. So pretty much, since I was, I was four until like my teenagers, I grew up in a war and in a war-dorn country. I really found salvation in watching movies as I was growing up, you know? And when I was in my late teenage years, that is when I realized that this is my calling,

I wanna make movies. So I was so excited about this newly found vision, not newly found vision, because I was always influenced by movies, but like it was like so crystal clear in my mind that one day I declared to my parents, mom, dad, I'm going to make movies. And, you know, they look at me and they was like,

what are you talking about, son? Why don't you be a doctor or a police officer or whatever? Don't talk about filmmaking. It's crazy. And it was really surprising for me because, I mean, anytime I speak about I want to be a movie maker back home, people looked at me and they responded as if I said, I want to be an astronaut and fly to Mars, it's impossible. You know, everybody assured me, even my parents.

And now I understand the reason why, because the war and the mindset they had during the war is people just want to survive. It's a practical mindset. It's a very practical mindset for them, you know. So that is after conversing with my parents and with people, you know, I understood for me to become a filmmaker. I really pursue my dream on a grand scale. I really have to find a way, have to go to America. You know, America where people are still believe in dreams. People are not afraid to dream here.

Very easy for me to believe, not to make. lose hope, you know, because when you grow up in war, you tend to get used to this insurmountable obstacles, you know, like impossible means nothing to you, you know. So I was researching, research and research and what can I do? And then once I learned that US universities are offering full scholarships for prospective student athletes. And that was my idea. For me to become a filmmaker, I have to become an athlete first. So I was thinking like, What kind of sport can I do? And after thinking a little bit, I understood that running,

I'm going to be a runner because you don't need any kind of fancy equipment. You don't need like coaches or like crazy nutrition or whatever. You know, as long as you're crazy enough, you can just go out and run around the forest or around the block. This is a sheer willpower. Exactly. I share willpower and dedication. But it's very interesting because when I set my mind that I want to be a runner, I don't like running, but you see, I understood that's my ticket to America, that's my ticket to making films.

I approached my running years as if my life depends on this. You know, it's not like I like it, I don't like it, oh, it snowy, or it's like 100 degrees outside, it doesn't matter. If I want to get to a certain level in my life, which I set out myself at a time, I don't care if it's like 110 degrees. I don't care if it's like 10 degrees in snowing or rain or windy. I don't care if nobody's out there with me, no question. I don't care. I'm gonna do it and do it and do it. And as simple as that.

You know, it's as simple as that. You know, when I got into running, I started learning about who are the best runners in the world, who are the fastest runners in like Michael Johnson or Jeremy Warren or like, I look into their files because they were both Olympic champions in my distance. So I figured they both went to the university called Baylor in Texas, Baylor University,

Waco, Texas. So, you know, I go, I don't have internet, so I go on internet cafe, and I find the coach email and I read and I write him like a very poorly constructed email on English that I never expected the response from. I told him who I am, this and that the time I ran on 400 meter dash. And he responded to me and I have this email with me right now. He responded. It's amazing. It's amazing. And he said, you know, I think you have a potential. I think you ran pretty

fast times because if you've been just trying to go like six or seven months. And we would like to have you here in Baylor. But we just don't have enough scholarship. for this year anymore. So if you want to wait another year, we can put you in a full right. But like my desire was such that I don't really want to spend much time at home. I really want to get out. So it's very important for me to get the full scholarship and to get to America as soon as possible. And when I told him this, his answer was like, well, unfortunately, we cannot have you here then if you cannot wait another year. But if you would like us, I can put you in touch with another universities in America who are having the same running program

more we have connections to like affiliated with sure and this was really out of blue when a coach from the University of Tulsa it's a school in Oklahoma Division I school in Oklahoma there is the golden hurricanes he reached out to me you know and I was like so surprised and he was like ready to offer a full scholarship he just said I talked with the head coach of Baylor he told me to give you a full right simple as that that was it I have been it's crazy and I had lots of lots of headwind when I was like I had lots of obstacles to conquer you know it was like those 12 months I dedicated to running back home it was it was an emotional roller coaster for me you

know I lost my mom out of nowhere you know like there was like I remember my most important race that was the decisive race whether I'm gonna get the scholarship or not and two weeks before that race I I was doing jumps in a workout and And I completely twisted my ligaments on my left ankle. And I was devastated, I remember. You know, the doctor came over. I took a look at my ankle, touched it, he expected it, whatnot. And I tell him, doctor, you have to fix me.

I have two weeks to run. And he looks at me, he says, two weeks. He says, if you're able to run within the next, if you're able to walk within the next two months, you should consider yourself lucky. That's what he told me. And I mean, it was a punch to my heart, you know. But I remember, this is the same thing when people told me I cannot go to America.

So the same thing, instead of listening to the doctor, I didn't trust what he said. I didn't believe a single word he said. I went home that night. And as I said to you earlier, you know, I elevated my leg in 90 degrees and I pressed my ankle. I pressed my foot, my feet. And I was talking to my ankle. You know, I wanted to become a friend with my ankle. I wanted to convince my ankle, you know, that we can do it.

like, come on, we invested so many months to this opportunity, it's not going to come again. And these people are watching at me right now. So, you know, two, three days later, I start jogging. You know, it's painful. I can jog like two, three minutes. Then I go home and ice it. I massage it. Like I put lotion on it.

Again, I talk to the ankle. I don't sleep. I talk to the ankle. And believe it or not. And again, I have this visually documented, you know, I run two weeks later. I remember it was January 27th of 2005 or 2007. 60. Two weeks later I read and I win that race. It was an Indo race but I read and I read a personal record. You know I graduated from school. I graduated as one of the top of my class

Bachelors in accounting and economics and but I didn't come in America to be an accountant and to work in office but I was like you know I didn't come here to do that. I came here to do movies and then I was like that's just like that. One day after my graduation I graduated May 11th, 2011, and May 12th, I was in LA. I just came to LA the next day. And I didn't know anybody in LA. Like I find a girl, still I was in Tulsa, I find the girl on Craigslist.

And I was like, she was looking for a roommate in Hollywood. I was like, I would like to move in with you. So she was like, okay, I can reserve the department. It's one thing when I told back home to people that I want to make movies and they didn't believe it. They didn't believe it's possible. I was really surprised because when I came to LA and I said to people, you know, story, you know, I want to make a movie.

Let's make a movie, guys. Everybody was excited. I was like, let's do it. It's a good idea. But then the next day they came back to me and they asked me, well, how much money do you have? Who's your father? What kind of connections do you have? And when I said, I don't have any of those, you know?

I just came to LA and nobody. They were like, forget it, don't even bother. You know, you're not going to make a movie. Because some people even, I remember, some people went even as far as stating that making movie, it's like one of the hardest and toughest things to do, you know? Like they tell me sometimes even people like Brad Pitt can't make their own movie the way they want to, because like so much things going going into making a single movie. You know, it was surprising because always thought in America people love to dream big and they execute on their trades. But I was a little

bit surprised I have to tell you that, you know. And I noticed that like, you know, everybody's Starbucks or everybody like people write on their screen praise. People talk big. People talk they know like everybody. People talk, they're like so driven and so hardworking. And people talk like they have connections everywhere. But at the end of the day, when it's time to execute, when it's time to show that actually what you have and what you know and what you can do, unfortunately, maybe I just had bad luck. But most of the people I came across, they don't do nothing.

They just talk. And that was a very big and great learning experience for me. And that is when I decided, you know, Tori, I don't want to be one of those people who talk. I don't. So I went to Best Buy. I bought the camera for like 150 bucks and I made the whole movie. That's it. I made the whole movie.

I filmed it. It was very primitive movie making. But I never made the movie before. And I wanted to edit it, but I didn't know how to edit. So I taught myself how to edit. I taught myself how to the sound design, have to do everything. And it took me some time, you know, it took me several months. But I finished the movie and I look at the movie and I assembled. and I'm so happy.

I was like, wow, this looks great. This is a great movie. I love it. I was like, wow, people are going to be blown away, but I don't want to show it to anybody. So I watched the movie again. I watched the movie the next day, the next day. For one week, I watched the movie every single day.

After one week, I look at the movie that I created, and I say to myself, this is a garbage. This is so bad. I cannot show this to anybody, you know? But I learned so much from it. Just since you have such an inspiring story, what are three key pieces of advice you would give other people who currently have like a big dream and haven't gotten her yet or haven't started tackling it like what would your three like keys be to getting on that journey reasons beyond understanding I was born in the war I'm gonna turn that into my biggest advantage you know I learned that everything in life is about perspectives if war was given to me cool I'll make the best out of it you know so I learned that like really like the human mind

that each one of our brain is built to do wonders. Everything else is just in skills, if you think about it. Number one thing, I think, is a vision. You have to have a clear vision. If I don't have a clear vision that I want to make a movie or what kind of movie I want to make, I'm not going to have the power to run with torn ligaments. I'm not going to have the courage to go in that neighborhood.

I'm not going to have a courage to come to America by myself, with no English. So vision is what helped me a lot. lot. Vision. The second thing I would say is self-expression. Like know what you want to do, but it's not enough to know what you want to do. Know it in as much in as much details as possible. Because the deeper you can dig down deep in your soul and figure out who you are as a person, what are your strengths, what are your disadvantages, weaknesses, everything. The more you know about it, the more when you communicate to another person, they're going to see you more clear who are you as a person. So sometimes the words, they are not important, but they see you.

As I said earlier, sometimes these people don't understand what I'm saying, but they see the energy and they want to be part of it. And as for the third thing, I would say, just keep going, you know, just don't give up. You can't give up. And I know it sounds very easy and cheesy and everything. You know, everybody says, I don't give up. And everybody says, you know, I'm never going to give up. It sounds so easy, but it's so hard to do. So have a vision, number one. Know who you are, number two, and just keep going. Just keep going, because life is so short, and you're going to be like 50, 60 years old,

and you don't want to be one of those people like you're 60 years old, and then you're regretting all your missed opportunities. You know, just keep going.