The 2009 International Roma / Gypsy human rights film festival

October 1 to October 9

Mehanata The Bulgarian Bar
113 Ludlow St. NY,Thw lower East Side

SPECIAL PROGRAM:

THE SINTI / ROMA HOLOCAUST

To Down LTo Down Load theoschedule as an Excel document click Here and as a web page click Here
and as a Word document click Here

Please not that some changes in the schedule for THURSDAY , October 8 Schedule.

 

All Films and Events Schedule: By Day

Thursday October 1

6:00 - 6:22 A family divided 22 Minutes
6:30 - 7:10 The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania 41 Minutes
7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Baklava 106 Minutes
9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. discussion - Q&A with the film maker ALEXO PETROV


Thursday October 1 - 6:00 - 6:22 A family divided 22 Minutes


A family divided: Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians in Kosovo.

Film by Valon Imeri
Producer: Olivia Starr

WorldWide premier

KOSOVO and USA, 22 mins
In Albanian, Serbian, English and Romani


This television documentary shows three minority communities from
Kosovo -- Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians -- whose identities have been
shaped by recent wars and conflicts. They share their experiences, as
well as expose the deeper misunderstanding and distrust that exist
among these groups and between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo/a. The
film also explores cultural and linguistic similarities that bond
these communities together. The long-term goals of the film (made for
public television in Kosovo) are to encourage the Roma, Ashkali, and
Egyptian communities to become active members of Kosovar society;
promote mutual understanding, acceptance, and cooperation; and, in an
international setting, provide a glimpse of the impact of ethnic
conflict on the rich cultural character of this region.

Trailer




Thursday 1 6:30 - 7:10 The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania 41 Minutes

The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania

Film by : Jaap de Ruig

No Language spoken.

Holand, Rumania 40'

One day in the life of a Roma village, somewhere deep in Rumania. After a pastoral start and a quarrel in the afternoon, peace returns. Recorded with much love and attention.

Hetea is an isolated settlement in Central Romania. Around 350 people live in handmade huts. In The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania we experience a day in Hetea. The day starts out pastorally enough: guiding cows and horses, building a new wooden house, etc.
In the afternoon, suddenly the fat is in the fire. People scream and threaten each other. Little by little the serene atmosphere returns, but the aftereffects of the quarrel are still audible.
Photographer/filmmaker Jaap de Ruig prepared the film for seventeen years and recorded it in one day. He chose not to subtitle because then: 'I would have given too much meaning to words, which divert from the universal character of the images.

Trailer
'Film - International Film Festihttp://www.jaapderuig.nl/val Rotterdam 200 9 - IFFR

Thursday 1 7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. "BAKLAVA" 106 Minutes
"BAKLAVA"

9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.
Thursday,October 1
7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. 106 Minutes.

Banned in Bulgaria under accusations of promoting drug use, pornography and homosexuality, the commotion generated by “Baklava” led to an investigation of the Bulgarian government and an impending trial against the director and producer Alexo Petrov. But beyond all the internet buzz, political ruckus and conservative outcries, Baklava’s real aim is to depict the creepy life and dangerous living conditions of Bulgarian orphans and abandoned children, through the story of two brothers reunited in a hunt for a mysterious buried treasure. Full of dream segments and surrealistic moments, Petrov’s confronting film shows the confusion generated by the social transition that the Bulgarian people are going through nowadays and their problematic search for a new identity.

7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
"BAKLAVA"
Film by: ALEXO PETROV
Canada / Bulgaria : 106 minutes

A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.

baklava-full Cast

www.lostvulgaros.com
myspace.com/alexopetrov

Something terrible happens again on the Balkans. Censorship, political persecution, trials in absentia, film prohibition –
all those words known from the near past behind the iron curtain…Read more \

 

Friday October 2

6:00 - 7:10 P.M. Romale 68 Minutes
7:15 - 8:05 PM The Forgotten Holocuast 50 Minutes
8:10 - 9:40 P.M. Lecture: The Persecution and Genocide of the European Roma
- How, why, where and who? 90 Minutes
9:45 - 10:15 P.M. Moving Stories 27 Minutes

Friday, October 2, 6:00 - 7:10 P.M. Romale 68 Minutes

Romale

Yoram Porath
Director/Producer

68 minutes
Israel, Slovakia

An Extremely toxic mine site in Slovakia is home to a community of Roma (Gypsies). Three youngsters strive to fulfill their dreams and leave the community's cycle of poverty imprisonment and death.
Marian and Roman are struggling to support their families in an environment of contamination, crime and unemployment. Marian who has been in and out jail desires to change his ways and create with his friend Roman a Gypsy musical band.
Margareta is a 14-years-old girl whose modest dream to graduate school and become waitress is challenged by her early pregnancy.
ROMALE is a cutting edge document of dreams verses realities and in the same time a poetic shout for equality for the ROMA people.

lightexposure
Trailer

7:15 - 8:05 PM The Forgotten Holocuast 50 Minutes

Friday, October 2 ,
7:15 P.M. - 8:05 P.M.


The Forgotten Holocuast
50 minutes,1989

BBC1 1989 Inside Story

Dir George Case.
Historical Consultant Michael Stewart.


In this BBC film the history of the persecution and genocide of the European Roma, SInti and Gypsies is documented through interviews with survivors in Germany, Hungary, Austria Poland, France and the Netherlands. Beautifully shot, the film evokes the growing threat to European Roma as the Nazis turned their attention to other 'racial aliens' beyond the Jews. The film is based around a series of long interviews with survivors and also contains generous footage from Moholy-Nagy's rarely seen 1932 film Gypsies in the City (Grossstadtzigeuner).


Friday, October 2
8:10 P.M. - 9:40 P.M.
A lecture by: Professor Michael Stewart follows the screening.

 "The Persecution and Genocide of the European Roma
How, why, where and who? 90 mins"

Michael Stewart: Professor of social Anthropology,UCL (University College London)

www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology

Friday, October 2, 9:45 - 10:15 P.M. Moving Stories 27 Minutes


Moving Stories

Film by: Lucy Kaye

27 mins
England

Fred Ward, a Romany Gypsy living on a council caravan site in Kent, struggles against a deadline as he prepares to make an appearance at a large gathering where he knows other Travellers will attend. Moving Story follows his progress and offers a glimpse into life inside what Travellers call “the trailer”.

Camera,Sound, Edit : Lucy Kaye

On-line Edit: David Hendersen
Sound Mixing: John Tipler
Producer: Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology

Saturday October 3

5:00 - 5:50 What Magdalena said 49 Minutes
6:00 - 6:30 Presentation, discussion and Q&A
6:40 - 7:40 Hidden Sorrows. 56 Minutes
7:45 - 9:45 Lecture By Professor Ian Hancock

Saturday, October 3, 5:00 - 5:50 What Magdalena said 49 Minutes
Saturday, October 3, 6:00 - 6:30 Presentation, discussion and Q&A


What Magdalena Said.

Dir. Michael Stewart

BBC1, 49 minutes,1994
Czech-Slovak, England.

In 1993 the runner up at the Miss Czech-Slovak competition, Magdalena Babicka, won worldwide notoriety when she decclared that her life-time ambition was to become a public prosecutor, in order to cleanse her town of 'its brown-skinned inhabitants.' Social Anthropologist, Michael Stewart, who had lived in a Romany settlement in Hungary under communism, took a film crew (camera Barry Ackroyd)  to Magdalena's home town to explore the roots of a beauty queen's racist attitudes. There, just as the Czech and Slovak Republics were celebrating their 'velvet divorce', he discovered a Romany family living under a bush in the public park, having - as Slovaks - just lost their right to reside in the Czech Republic. The film follows the trials and tribulations of members of this family and Magdalena's mother who takes us into the dark past of this part of the world.

A discussion with Professor Michael Stewart follows the screening.


Saturday, October 3, 6:40 - 7:40 Hidden Sorrows. 56 Minutes

Saturday, October 3
6:40 p.m. - 7:40 p.m.

Hidden Sorrows.

The persecution of Romanian Gypsies during WWII.

a film by Michelle Kelso

56 minutes/ In Romanian with English subtitled.2005

 
   Americas Premiere.

              This documentary chronicles the rarely told narratives of Gypsy survivors of Nazi persecution in Romania as they remember their experiences during WWII in the context of their lives today. During WWII, Gypsies were slated alongside Jews and other populations for extermination. In each country occupied or allied with Nazi Germany, their fate was similar.Far too many Roma are supposed to have perished due to systematic extermination, forced marches, starvation, exposure, diseases, and abuses. Romania, The Gypsies' experience critically altered their lives. Survivors share with viewers their shocking deportation from Romania to camps where they fought to survive by any means necessary. Hidden Sorrows reveals the continued struggle of Gypsies for equality in a society that views them as second-class citizens. It examines the present impoverishment of the survivors and their descendants as well as discrimination facing them daily.

           This is about the nowadays social conditions of Gypsies in Romania linked to the reparations granted to survivors for their suffering. It is explained that the Swiss bank, that helped financing the Nazi regime, granted only 55 years later (in 2000) 770 dollars to 152 Roma survivors (as humanitarian assistance and not as reparation), and that in 2001 the German government granted 1300 people 500 dollars. Many applications were rejected for lack of archival documents.

Saturday, October 3
7:45 P.M.- 9:45 P.M.

Lecture By Ian Hancock
The Honorable Ian F. Hancock, Director of the Romani Archives and Documentation Center and former Roma representative to the UN Economic and Social Council And Member of the International Romani Parliament. Ian Hancock , he is Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a professor of English, linguistics and Asian studies since 1972.

Professor Hancock has published more than 300 books and articles concerning the Romani people and language (particularly the Vlax dialect). These works analyze the Romani people not only through Romani linguistics but also through history, anthropology, and genetics.

Sunday, October 4

5:00 - 6-:15 PM Theatrical performance and Play
‘Our Garbage Dump, our Hell and Heaven’,75 Minutes

6:15 - 6:45 A discussion with the playwright : Ella Veres Romania/USA.follows the screening.

6:55 - 7:25 INVISIBLE NEIGHBORS_Les Vosins Invisibles- 27 Minutes

7:30 - 7:55 Presentation by: Film maker and Roma advocate on contemporary
Gypsy situation in Belgrade-Serbia. With film maker Ivana  Todorrovic.

8:00 - 9:00 Beshencevo: a current history 54 Minutes

9:05 - 9:25 We are people/“Amen sam Roma” 20 Minutes

9:30 - 10:00 The Last Days of Sulukule 28 Minutes


Sunday, October 4
5:00 - 6:45 PM Theatrical performance and Play
‘Our Garbage Dump, our Hell and Heaven’,60 Minutes

Our Garbage Dump, Our Hell and Heaven  is a dramatic collage in which I try to fathom why it is still hard for us humans to see  we miss so much by hating. It is also a real cry for help from the people of Pata-Ratului, Transylvania, Romania, who live on a garbage dump that shuts down in a few months because it doesn't meet European Community ecological standards. Thus soon the Roma settlement will be buldozered down and its people will be displaced. Some of its scenes are based on interview.

A work-in-progress written by Ella Veres
Directed by Alicia Kaplan
Performed by Jessica Carmona, Elliot Crown, Jan Daria, Skye

Puppetry by Peter Bullow


This work-in-progress is presented by The New York Roma/Gypsy Human Rights Film Festival as a public reading to be followed by a discussion.

6:15 - 6:45 A discussion with the playwright : Ella Veres Romania/USA.follows the screening.

Sunday, October 4
6:55 - 7:25 INVISIBLE NEIGHBORS_Les Vosins Invisibles- 27 Minutes

INVISIBLE NEIGHBORS_Les Vosins Invisibles

A film by Mona Hafez & Barbara Koch

France, Germany

French, Romanes & Spanish
English Subtitles 27 min.
2009

Invisible Neighbors presents the stories of Romanis living in the Parisian Suburbs largely unseen and ignored by the local community. It provides a short and intense insight into the lives of one of the many marginalized migrant communities living scattered among the outlying districts of Europe’s cities and towns.

Trans-IT e.V.

Sunday, October 4
2009. 7:30 To 7:55

Contemporary Gypsy situation in Belgrade-Serbia
Film maker and Roma advocate Ivana  Todorrovic.

Sunday, October 4 8:00 - 9:00 Beshencevo: a current history 54 Minutes


Beshencevo: A Current History

Film by: Hannah Collins
Screenwriter: Edouard Chiline

Russia, England,54 mins, 2006


One day in the life of the Chiline family and others in the village of Beshencevo on the outskirts of Nizhny Novgorod in central Russia. Here we see the contrast between the fabric of the pre-Soviet village and the exhausted post-Soviet city. The present situation in Russia is neither stable nor predictable. We learn that each member of the family is adapting to the changes in different ways.
Against the backdrop of almost abstract and distant political decisions, solace is sought in gambling, religion or superstition. The village’s few remaining children are given a classic education but little means to grasp the forces shaping their lives and choices.
Edouard, a member of the Chiline family, saw some of Collins’ work in Amsterdam and invited her to his village. After an initial visit she returned in deep winter with a crew. She filmed for fourteen days, working with a script written with Edouard and other villagers. The resulting seven hours of footage have been edited into two film versions, one for a gallery audience and one for a cinema audience.
David Campany

Principal Cast: Villagers of Beshencevo

Director: Hannah Collins
Producer: Hannah Collins,
Executive/Co-Producers: Film London
Editor: Daniel Goddard
Screenwriter: Edouard Chiline, Hannah Collins
Director of Photography: Pere Carete
Production Designer: Hannah Collins
Sound: Miguel Figuerola

www.hannahcollins.net

Sunday, October 4, ,9:05 - 9:25 We are people/“Amen sam Roma” 20 Minutes

We are people
“Amen sam Roma”

Romania, Austria.
Romanian with English subtitles.
20 min
Directored by Young Roma from Petrosani
Producer Cristinela Ionescu

The film deals with Petrosani, a miners´ town in the Jiu Valley in Romania. Many families, Roma as well as Non-Roma were searching for happiness in the mining industry. There is a miners´ saying: “Going into the dark we all are black.” It is a multicultural society where identity, tradition and progress are constantly on trial.

Association Thumende, Young Roma from Petrosani, RO 2009, 20 min.
Technical Support: Cristinela Ionescu, Alin Nebeleag Ciprian, Adi Jineriu/THUMENDE TV

Names of participants:

Rad Marius
Munteanu Firuta
Tuca Mihaela
Caldarar Cristian
Ciocea Andrei
Ciocea Gheorghe
Dragoi Catalin
Csiriclo Elisabeta
Dragoi Claudiu
Ionescu C-tin

Studio West Project.Austria
StudioWest - Verein freier Film- und Videoschaffender
Verein Ketani
videant film

Association Thumende Valea Jiului
Cristinela.ionescu@tumende.ro

www.romavideodrom.net
Romavideodrom



Sunday, October 4, 9:30 - 10:00 The Last Days of Sulukule 28 Minutes

World wide Premier

The Last Days of Sulukule

Hungary-Turkey

28 min

Film by: Katalin Bársony
Executive producer : Marion Kurucz
Hungary

In Turkish, Romanes, English, French, Hungarian

This documentary was shot in November 2008 in the Sulukule neighborhood of Istanbul’s Old City. The formerly blooming Roma district, world famous for its dancers and musicians and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is being bulldozed to the ground by the local authorities. Last days of a disappearing culture.
katalin.barsony@mundiromani.com   marion.kurucz@mundiromani.com

Duna Television, 1016 Budapest, Mészáros utca 48



Monday, October 5
6:00 - 6:15 As we see it 15 Minutes Hungary
6:15 - 6:26 The First Day 11 Minutes
6:30 - 7:20 P.M. Train of Freedom. 50 Minutes
7:30 - 7:55 Q&A Director: Karina Correa
8:00 - 8:14 Jan Yoors weaving two worlds 14 Minutes
8:15 - 8:45 Presentation,discussion and Q&A _Kore Yoors
9:00 - 9:40 Attacks against roma people. 40 Minutes
9:45 10:45 Presentation by: Roma advocate Boglarka Fedorko on contemporary Hungary

Monday, October 5, 6:00 - 6:15 As we see it 15 Minutes Hungary

As we see it

Kum noj vidém/Ahogy mi látjuk

Directored by Young Roma from Alsószentmárton
Producer Lilla Polyák

Hungary
15 min.

 

The film shows the village Alsószentmárton from the perspective of young Roma living there. Many of them are in a difficult situation looking for jobs, others want to go to University. The film also gives an insight into the educational work at the „Kistigris“ (Little Tiger) High School and the local day-care centre.

Videant Ltd., Young Roma from Alsószentmárton, HU 2009, 15 min.
Technical Support: Somogyvári Rudolf, Gajdos Milán, Zajti Balázs/VIDEANT LTD.

Names of participants:

Alex Petrovics
Róbert Bicskei
István Szilvási
Tamás Fenyvesi
Gábor Szilvási
Péter Balogh
Alexandra Bicskei
Tímea Ignácz
Henrietta Balogh
Ágnes Martonyi

polyak.lilla@videant.hu

www.romavideodrom.net

Monday, October 5,6:15 - 6:26 The First Day 11 Minutes

The First Day
Film by: Hannah Skrinar

England-Slovakia
(2008, 11 mins)
"Children here are mentally retarded. There is a tendency to integrate Romani children in primary schools, but pupils with mental and social retardation stay the same. Children from a socially disadvantaged environment suffer from social and mental retardation."
Head teacher of a Slovak special school where 95% of the pupils are Roma.
Galina is a Romani girl from Slovakia, a country which disproportionately places Romani children in special schools for mentally disabled children. Her family have moved to Sheffield to escape the old prejudices. Now, Galina is starting nursery, where she will not be the only child who can't speak English.

Monday, October 5, 6:30 - 7:20 P.M. Train of Freedom. 50 Minutes

Train of Freedom.
Monday,October 5
6:30 P.M. - 7:20 P.M.

USA, Kosova 50 mints

Executive producer : Petrit Pula, Karina Correa
Director: Karina Correa

A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.

Train of Freedom is a documentary about post-war reconciliation in Kosovo presented through a journey in the country's railways.
Today, the train aims to reconcile and integrate the different ethnic groups that were affected by the war. It is one of the very few places in Kosovo where Albanians, Serbs, Gypsies Romas and Ashkalis share a common place. Meet the people, hear their stories and learn first hand the hopes and challenges of this new nation.

www.trainoffreedom.com/trailer

petritpula@gmail.com

Monday, October 5, 7:30 - 7:55 Q&A Director: Karina Correa

Monday, October 5, 8:00 - 8:14 Jan Yoors weaving two worlds 14 Minutes


"Jan Yoors weaving two worlds"

Film by : whirlwind creative
USA 14 minutes
David Doore - Video editor
Jan Yoors (1922-1977) a Human right advocate, a photographer and The author of "The Heroic Present: LIFE AMONG THE GYPSIES"was born in Antwerp, Belgium to a cultured, liberal family of artists. At the age of twelve he ran off with a Gypsy tribe and lived with the kumpania on and off for the next ten years. (His memoir of this period, "The Gypsies", was published in 1965 and remains a seminal work on the subject).This film deals with the Journey and the life of Jan Yoors.

A discussion with David Doore and Kore Yoors follows the screening.

www.janyoors.com
www.whirlwindcreative.com
Monday, October 5, 8:15 - 8:45 Presentation,discussion and Q&A _Kore Yoors



Monday, October 5, 9:00 - 9:40 Attacks against roma people. 40 Minutes

Attacks against roma people.

Film by:Janos Joka Daroczi
Hungary
40 mins

This film is the startling account of the discrimination and provocation towards the self-governed Roma community of gypsies in the country of Hungary. Since the installment of the Hungarian Guard in 2007, efforts to further isolate and to segregate the gypsy population has intensified, an initiative, which this film argues is encouraged by the Hungarian government unrestrictedly.
Though interviews of the Roma community who are of Hungarian nationality, the film uses personal narratives to describe the violence that has ensued in the past few years in Hungary and the consequential polarization among people groups that it has caused. These stories, which have been collected over the past two years, chronologically reflect the struggle the Roma community still endures in Hungary. Reviewed by: Jessica Durham.

9:45 10:45 Presentation by: Roma advocate Boglarka Fedorko on contemporary Hungary
Monday,Oct 5, 2009.
9:45 P.M TO 10:45 P.M.
"Social exclusion of Roma in Hungary"
Lecture by: Boglarka Fedorko
Memeber of: Organization Romaversitas Foundation,
Budapest (Hungary)
www.romaversitas.hu



Tuesday, October 6
6:00 - 6:56 PORRAIMOS 56 Minutes
7:00 - 7:30 - Presentation, discussion and Q&A
7:40 - 8:30 STRANGERS FROM THE INSIDE France 52 Minutes
8:35 - 9:30 Presentation, discussion and Q&A Eric Darmon and Juliette Jourdan 55 Minutes
9:40 -10:10 Ukraine 2008 - School Segregation 28 Minutes



Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 - 6:56 PORRAIMOS 56 Minutes

Porraimos
Tuesday, October 6
6:00 P.M.-6:56 P.M.

7:00 - 7:30
A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.

PORRAIMOS
Europe’s Gypsies in the Holocaust
a documentary by director/producer Alexandra Isles

56 minutes

Gypsies

the Most Persecuted Minority in Europe Today…
the Forgotten Victims of Nazi Oppression
Filmmaker Alexandra M. Isles made many visits to the Museum's archives to research visual documentation of the experience of Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) under Nazi rule. Much of what she found ultimately became part of her film Porraimos, which means “the devouring” in Romani. Under the Nazis, Roma were forced to settle and were subjected to medical experiments, sterilization, and deportation to concentration camps.

Interviews, film and photographs from the Nazi Department of Racial Hygiene, and other archival material help tell the story of the tragic fate of the Gypsies during the Holocaust. Like the Jews, Gypsies were viewed as inherently tainted and were persecuted, in large part due to the pseudoscience of eugenics. Gypsies during the Nazi era lost their civil rights, were forced to register, and, in keeping with the Nazi strategy of liquidation, were then segregated into ghettoes and camps for ultimate extermination.

Tuesday, October 6, 7:40 - 8:30 STRANGERS FROM THE INSIDE France 52 Minutes

STRANGERS FROM THE INSIDE
In the heart of bohemian Gypsies
France 52 min 2008

France-Czech Republic.

A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.

In a small city in the northern Czech Republic, the mayor had a wall put up to isolate the Gypsy houses from the rest of the population. The Gypsies were outraged. Backed by sympathizers who had come from all over the country, they took down the wall. The country was divided and Maticni Street made it into the international press. The film maps out the symbolic wall that isolates them from all of Europe and lets the Gypsies speak. We meet the people in this rebellion, we follow teenagers in Prague, we listen to a grandmother wounded by the war, a boxer, some skinheads, a Gypsy intellectual. The film captures what defines the Gypsy people and which has allowed them for centuries to preserve their identity and force intact, despite persecution and exclusion.

France
Director : Juliette Jourdan
Camera : Juliette Jourdan
Sound : Alexandre Hecker
Editing : Idit Bloch
Étrangers de l'intérieur
memoiremagnetique@wanadoo.fr

Tuesday, October 6, 8:35 - 9:30 Presentation, discussion and Q&A
Eric Darmon and Juliette Jourdan
55 Minutes

Tuesday, October 6, 9:40 -10:10 Ukraine 2008 - School Segregation 28 Minutes
World wide Premier

Ukraine 2008 - School Segregation

Hungary-Ukraine
28 min

Film by: Katalin Bársony

Executive producer : Marion Kurucz

In Romanes, Ukrainian, Hungarian

This documentary was shot in 2008 in western Ukraine, where Hungarian minority status serves as a basis for the segregation of Roma children in schools. A unique insight into the mechanisms which allow tens of thousands of children across Eastern Europe to be denied basic education on account of their ethnic origins.


katalin.barsony@mundiromani.com   marion.kurucz@mundiromani.com

Duna Television, 1016 Budapest, Mészáros utca 48

Wednesday, October 7

6:00 - 6:30 Lashi Vita-"Beautiful life”
6:30 -7:00 P.M Looking for my Gypsy Roots. 28 Minutes
7:00 - 7: 55 "Searching for the 4th Nail" 55 Minutes
8:00 - 8:30 Presentation, discussion and Q&A
8 :40 - 9:40 Roma Stories 59 Minutes
9:45 - 10:05 Music & Daily Life in Stolipinovo 18 Minutes


Wednesday, October 7, 6:00 - 6:30 Lashi Vita-"Beautiful life”

World wide Premier

"Beautiful life”

Lashi Vita

Film by: Katalin Bársony

Executive producer : Marion Kurucz
Hungary-Italy
28 min

Romedia Foundation
In Romanes, Italian, English, Hungarian

Lashi Vita means beautiful life” in the mixture of Roma language and Italian used by Italy’s Roma immigrants. This news documentary was shot in 2008 in Italy, where the November 2007 murder of an Italian woman sparked a wave of violence against Roma reminiscent of the darkest days in European history.

Romedia Foundation
Mundi Romani
www.dunatv.hu

Wednesday, October 7, 6:30 -7:00 P.M Looking for my Gypsy Roots. 28 Minutes


Looking for my Gypsy Roots.

Hungary, England

Executive Producer: Brenda Kelly.
Producer: Jenny Richards
28 minutes
2008
Produced by Television Trust for the Environment

In Communist Hungary, many Roma children were taken from their parents and brought up in grim state orphanages. Among them was Arpad Bogdan, whose experiences inspired his prize-winning feature film Happy New Life. But Arpad still isn’t sure whether to embrace his “gypsy” roots, or whether he really belongs in the wider world. To help decide, he sets out to try and find his family. In this extraordinary film, Arpad finally discovers the truth about his mother, brother and father ... and finds himself asking whether even he has been affected by stereotypes of gypsy life. As his Dad says goodbye again, this time with an affectionate wave – should they keep in touch? Or is it better for everyone if Arpad finally breaks free from his Roma roots?
Series Editor: Steve Bradshaw
Series Consultant: Jenny Richards


Trailer
Bullfrog Films
Lifeonline

Wednesday, October 7, 7:00 - 7: 55 "Searching for the 4th Nail" 55 Minutes

"Searching for the 4th Nail"
"

" Special sneak Preview"

"Searching for the 4th Nail"

Film by : George Eli

Executive producer
Jasmine Dellal  /    Little Dust Productions

USA     55 minutes
A discussion with the filmmaker George Eli, sons Alex and Christopher Eli,
and Producer and Editor Nikhil Melnechuk follows the screening.

Filmmaker George Eli embarks on a journey across America to find the
origins of his people's traditions so that he can teach his sons what it means to be Gypsy.

Trailer

www.gypsytown.com

A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening
Wednesday, October 7, 8:00 - 8:30 Presentation, discussion and Q&A



Wednesday, October 7, 8 :40 - 9:40 Roma Stories 59 Minutes


Roma Stories (Japigia GagÌ)

Film by: Giovanni Princigalli
59 min, 2003
Italy

In Japigia, a neighborhood in the periphery of Bari, Italy, a small community of Roma (Gypsies) carve out an existence in an illegal, ramshackle encampment. The local church has offered them a piece of land with prefabricated houses, but the town hall is preventing this offer due to their own plans for a future a railway station. Continually in danger of evacuation , the Roma still manage to foster a strong community and lively social atmosphere Living for a one year within the community, the filmmakers extract both the emotional and anthropological details from this vibrant microcosm which remains largely hidden and ignored by its own city.

Trailer




Wednesday, October 7, 9:45 - 10:05 Music & Daily Life in Stolipinovo 18 Minutes

Music & Daily Life in Stolipinovo
"Musika ot Stolipinovo"
Bulgaria

18 min.
IN Bulgarian, Romani, Turkish

Foundation ROMA, Asen Karagyosov/Angel Mihaylov u.v.a., BG 2009.
Technical Support: Andreas Kraus, Hermann Peseckas/STUDIO WEST

A traditional Roma musician and a group of young break dancers use different methods to fight the Ghetto problems. Maksim gets people into daydreaming for some hours and thus forget about their problems, the "Electric Black Breakers" help youngsters from ending up on the street by involving them into rap and break dance.

Names of participants:

Angel Nikolov Mikhailov
Asen Antonov Karagiosov
Anton Vaskov Karagiosov
Milko Zapryanov Stoyanov
Krasimir Georgiev Atanasov
Mitko Ivanov Manolov
Asen Naskov Mikhailov
Sasho Todorov Yurukov
Stoyan Lichev Sandov
frdroma@abv.bg

romavideodrom.net/files/romadrom

Thursday, October 8
6:00 - 7:00 Sung Life 56 Minutes
7:10 - 7:40 Hopeless In Sweden 27 Minutes
7:45 - 8:55 Gucia 71 Minutes
9:00 - 10:00 “Heaven Murdered” 54 Minutes


Thursday, October 8, 6:00 - 7:00 Sung Life 56 Minutes


“Sung Life”.
Macedonia
56 min

The documentary was made to safeguard the Roma identity and tradition and also to give praise to old traditional Roma folk songs.

The National Roma Centrum (Macedonia) promoted its documentary film “Sung life” that reflects the rich Roma tradition and history sung through traditional folk Roma music. The film is in NRC’s organization in production of “Kotiledon” and financially supported from the cultural program of the Open Society Institute from Budapest – Hungary and the green group from the European Parliament.
100 people were involved in the film, artists as well as citizens of Kumanovo. The film was shot at about twenty locations and will be broadcasted on national and local televisions.
Besides the film, the DVD also contains a selection of the best old Roma songs performed by various entertainers. The documentary film, together with the choice of Roma music will be distributed throughout Macedonia and Roma homes as well and will be available to all who respect the Roma music and culture.
All interested that would like to receive the original version of the film may contact:
National Roma Centrum
Done Bozinov 11/5
1300 Kumanovo

info@nationalromacentrum.org
www.nationalromacentrum.org







Thursday, October 8, 7:10 - 7:40 Hopeless In Sweden 27 Minutes

Hopeless In Sweden
Film by Janos Kovacs and Janos Joka Daroczi
Hungary-Sweden
2006 _ 27 minins

In 2006 nearly 300 Hungarian citizens sought political asylum in Sweden. Mainly Roma families from Baranya County, they moved in the hope of a better future. Many others from Eastern Europe also travel to Sweden in the hope of finding a way out of the unemployment and hopelessness they face in their own countries with little knowledge of what is in store for them.

Thursday, October 8, 7:45 - 8:55 Gucia 71 Minutes


Watch the trailer   

Guca
Thursday, October 8
8:10 -9:20

Guca
Film by: Milivoj ilic

Serbia 2006. with English subtitles. 71m.

Executive producer: Adam Docker,
Julien Mignonac, Ces Terranova, Milivoj ilic

Cinnematography by: Adam Docker Editor: Anja Siemans

Featuring  Boban Markovic

Music By: Dejan Petrovic    Veljko Ostojic

and
Boban Markovic



      Guca is the name of a small village in Serbia which for over 40 years has been home to the national trumpet festival. Once a small local affair, it now pulls crowds of over 200,000 and is legendary across the Balkans. Milivoj ilic's account of the place, the people and the competitors is as exuberant, joyous and noisy as the festival itself. The film captures the brilliance and the machismo of the performances at a festival where young men do battle with brass bands. The film follows two young players, the main rivals for the coveted 'Golden Trumpet', both of whom learnt as boys from fathers who have also competed in a country where mastering traditional playing is still held in high esteem.You'll never look at a trumpet the same way again.

www.gucafilm.com
www.myspace.com/gucafilm

Thursday, October 8, 9:00 - 10:00 “Heaven Murdered” 54 Minutes

“Heaven Murdered”
ASESINADO POR EL CIELO

Spain / USA
54 minutes

Film by MARC BENERIA

 

In the flamenco underworld of New York, the lives of a legendary Gypsy guitarist and a young actress cross. Pepe encourages Dolores to sing but he receives devastating news and is haunted by the past. The maestro's tragedy contrasts with Dolores' transformation in this story of exile and broken dreams.

PRINCIPAL CAST
MARÍA BENJUMEDA Dolores Fine
PEDRO CORTÉS Pepe Reyes
MARTA TOPFEROVA Maya
CRISTIAN PUIG Tito
CARLO VUTERA Adam Fine

Friday, October 9
6:00 - 7:25 I have dreamt of working as a hair dresser 85 Minutes
7:30 - 9:20 The Gypsy Caravan 109 Minutes


Friday, October 9, 6:00 - 7:25 I have dreamt of working as a hair dresser 85 Minutes

"North American Premiere"
"I have dreamt of working as a hairdresser"
"Ich habe davon geträumt, Friseuse zu werden"

Film by: Lidija Mirkovic
German, Serbian and Romanes
Germany-Serbia, 85 mints

You see the scare in the children's eyes when they arrive at Belgrade’s airport. The gypsy families have just been deported out of Germany. From now on they become paper collector, scavenger, street musicians, beggars, and prostitutes. Life is unhygienic, sometimes dangerous. There is much resignation, and little hope.

Camera in Serbia: Miodraq Milosevic, Branco Sujic,
Camera in Germany: Patrik Metzger, David Lange, Markus Klemm,
Editing: Jens Lindemann, Lola Roth
Sound: Daniel Ludwig,
Newsreader Frank Bahrenberg
Subtitle: Christine Aurin
Editorial Staff: Tomislav Mirkovic, Christian Rulfs, Frank Winzenried, Jeanette Wolf
Music: Mustafa Zekirov
Love is a Gypsy Child" from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet
Production: Markus Westphalen
Direction: Lidija Mirkovic

Friday, October 9, 7:30 - 9:20 The Gypsy Caravan 109 Minutes

The Gypsy Caravan.

Director/Producer/Writer:
Jasmine Dellal - Little Dust Productions
109 minutes
Part concert film and part sociological study, this documentary travels between concert venues and cultures to give a rare insider look at Gypsy music. With Macedonian diva Esma Redzepova, traditional Indian troupe Maharaja, Romanian groups Fanfare Ciocarlia and Taraf de Haïdouks and the Antonio El Pipa Flamenco Ensemble.

www.gypsycaravanmovie.com

Saturday, October 10
6:30 - 7:10 The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania 41 Minutes
7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Baklava 106 Minutes
9:15 - 9:30 Oracle 16 Minutes



Saturday 10
6:30 - 7:10 The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania 41 Minutes

The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania

Film by : Jaap de Ruig

No Language spoken.

Holand, Rumania 40'

One day in the life of a Roma village, somewhere deep in Rumania. After a pastoral start and a quarrel in the afternoon, peace returns. Recorded with much love and attention.

Hetea is an isolated settlement in Central Romania. Around 350 people live in handmade huts. In The Source - One Day in a Roma Settlement in Romania we experience a day in Hetea. The day starts out pastorally enough: guiding cows and horses, building a new wooden house, etc.
In the afternoon, suddenly the fat is in the fire. People scream and threaten each other. Little by little the serene atmosphere returns, but the aftereffects of the quarrel are still audible.
Photographer/filmmaker Jaap de Ruig prepared the film for seventeen years and recorded it in one day. He chose not to subtitle because then: 'I would have given too much meaning to words, which divert from the universal character of the images.

Trailer
'Film - International Film Festihttp://www.jaapderuig.nl/val Rotterdam 200 9 - IFFR

Saturday 10
7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. "BAKLAVA" 106 Minutes
"BAKLAVA"

9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.

7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. 106 Minutes.

Banned in Bulgaria under accusations of promoting drug use, pornography and homosexuality, the commotion generated by “Baklava” led to an investigation of the Bulgarian government and an impending trial against the director and producer Alexo Petrov. But beyond all the internet buzz, political ruckus and conservative outcries, Baklava’s real aim is to depict the creepy life and dangerous living conditions of Bulgarian orphans and abandoned children, through the story of two brothers reunited in a hunt for a mysterious buried treasure. Full of dream segments and surrealistic moments, Petrov’s confronting film shows the confusion generated by the social transition that the Bulgarian people are going through nowadays and their problematic search for a new identity.

7: 15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
"BAKLAVA"
Film by: ALEXO PETROV
Canada / Bulgaria : 106 minutes

A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.

baklava-full Cast

www.lostvulgaros.com
myspace.com/alexopetrov

Something terrible happens again on the Balkans. Censorship, political persecution, trials in absentia, film prohibition –
all those words known from the near past behind the iron curtain…Read more \

 

 

Saturday,October 10
9:15 - 9:30 Oracle 16 Minutes

Oracle

Film By: Todor Madolev


Bulgaria/Canada

This is not a film about prophecies, but painful waiting for a new phenomenon to be born, powerful like our worship to Granny Vanga and Reverend Stoyna – both blind world-famous prophets, ORACLES from the Balkans.
This film-impression is for the young people.
Already for 20 years we live in a time of complicated transition and spiritual impoverishment.
The pop-folk culture and chalga, impudence of the new riches and the irresponsibility of overweening politicians rule.
Democracy and totalitarianism still contend.
The past has bequeathed to the younger generation its ugly monuments and obscure symbols.
Our heroine is 11 years old – the years in which Vanga has lost her sight, but has begun to see more profoundly.
SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN! But is it necessary a part of our senses be taken away to begin really to see?
Light, beauty and youth can help us to turn our backs on the past and to see the future, to understand that it is already PRESENT ...

Cast:  Janna Dikova, Katrin Georgieva 
Screenplay: Todor Madolev 
Editor: Joanna Spasova-Dikova, PhD
Original Music: Valentin Penzov 
Sound Designer: Alex Nushev 
Camera: Todor Madolev 
Postproduction: PALIMPSEST 
Producer and Art Director: Dimitar Dimitrov
ITC Canada
 
Director:Todor Madolev