Peter Hegedus grew up in socialist Hungary in the 1980s. His parents divorced and he was bullied a lot at school. Life behind the iron curtain was gloomy. Peter’s one escape was Hollywood movies. He wanted to make it in Hollywood and idolised all the big name action heroes. His favourite, by far, was Arnold Schwarzenegger. To him ‘Arnie’ personified the American Dream and all that it represented – strength, security and hope. Peter was convinced that one day America would save the world – and be his salvation.

Twenty years later the world is in a mess, and billions of people worldwide hold America responsible. Peter also finds himself confused about the country he once loved. Now in the midst of escalating global conflicts, he’s going on a journey to find out whether the America he once loved with all of its promises and ideals, still exists.

But he’s travelling with some baggage: his grandfather Andras Hegedus also fell in love with a belief. As a devoted communist and Hungary’s youngest ever Prime Minister, he called in the Soviet army to quash the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. He lived to regret his decision, and became aware just how easily a set of ideals can become a dangerous ideology. Peter doesn’t want to make the same mistake he did.

So he is prepared to go all the way to Washington to get his answers even if it means knocking on the doors of the White House to put his questions to the new President elect Barrack Obama whose political rhetoric about the Dream has inspired millions.

From Brisbane Australia, Peter goes the long way to America stopping in different countries around the world to test his concerns and reevaluate his childhood fantasies about America. He wants to talk to ordinary people who share his fears as well as his hope for America. One of his stops is Budapest where his father Jozef still lives. Unlike Peter, Jozef is a realist when it comes to America. He has also travelled extensively to the US and his business has benefited greatly from the US. He tells Peter that his journey could fuel anti-American sentiment.

Crossing the Mexican US border, Peter is greeted by his sister Dorka who has lived in the Los Angeles since 2001. On his journey to Washington, Peter finds himself going from the excitement of Disneyland to the desperation of a public school in South Central Los Angeles. He heads off across the country and sees glimpses of the America of his childhood but as he gets closer to the White House, he will have to be prepared to accept that the ideals he fell in love with cannot always live up to reality.

But Peter is adamant about his America. If the world ever needed that America, it is now! So to resolve his dilemma and make his case heard he will knock on the door of the new President in search of answers and in search of hope. To get to the leader of the free world, Peter will seek advice from Hungarian Hollywood executives, historians, and most importantly his childhood hero Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. If there is one person who cannot only assist him get to the White House but also help him clear things up about his childhood America it would be his childhood hero Arnold himself.

Following Peter Hegedus on his journey all the way to Washington, My America will be a collage of political interviews and personal interactions intercut with Hollywood movie clips, original animation and news footage. With a sense of fun and a playful naivety My America will challenge the existing anti-American rhetoric by getting to the heart of America in the new millennium to discover not just what it is but what it actually means for billions of people around the world whose lives it impacts.