The movie Aferim on Rroma slavery in Romania is still going strong!
A new prime time movie showcases Sinti on prime time in Germany. We haven’t seen it, but the plot has a few of the standard stereotypes … Unfortunately.
The documentary on Rroma children – Spartacus et Cassandra” is again on the headlines.
The movie on Rroma slavery in Romania still makes the headlines. Good!
The story of the dog is still doing the rounds. The police is now investigating (at last), and the press still reports on it. What is missed by all, are that the statements of the person who snatched the dog are deliberately generalising and racist … Not all Rroma drug their dogs or eat their cats. As least I don’t.
SHAME!!!
Slovakia chooses the movie on the Rroma boxer nicknamed “Koza” – the goat – as their Oscar submission!
The movie is making waves! Good, but let’s remember this is Romania, and Romania only. Let’s not generalise on all Rroma.
The designer Mary Katrantzou in her latest show is inspired by Kusturica’s movie “The Time of the Gypsies”. Fine, but saying that it is a “film that demonstrates the traditional Romani culture” is WRONG AND FALSE.
It is a movie that depicts poor Rroma engaged in criminal activities. It is a film about being poor and outcast, not about cultural traits.
The movie on Romanian Rroma slavery, Aferim, on which we have already repeatedly reported is a potential oscar contender.
Nice!
A documentary on a Rroma rapper in the Czech republic has proven to be a publicum hit!
Officials from the Croatian city of Vukovar have been filmed singing a fascist Ustaša song. The Croatian fascist regime killed Jews and nearly all the Rroma in Croatia (yes, almost all!).
This is definitively not acceptable!
A movie of the life of the Polish Rroma poetess Papusza. For those who knew her or still know her family and friends, there are a few “historical” mistakes in the movie, but by and large, it reflects her tragic life.
A pity that the music of the movie is absolutely dreadful.
For a change, something that is not in the news. A video, 28 minutes, on Polish Rroma in 1964, just before they were forbidden to travel. While it is definitively edited and in parts staged (see the chicken scene), we know several of the people who are seen in the movie… And yes, it was like this.
An Al-Jazeera film shows the quest of a 30 years old Rrom from a ghetto who, after a beating by the police, decides to finish high school and to become a teacher. While the story is definitively worthwhile and the man’s determination is to be really admired, the film and the article on it serves all the commonly held stereotypes. Broken families, criminality, drugs, etc. A more differentiated view is seldom presented in the press.
Gregori Stoev filmed for a year in the Mahala – the Rroma quarter – of Kjustendil, a city in Bulgaria. This documentary shatters the usual stereotypes of poverty, hopelessness, and shows that the neighbourhood also has middle class and even rich Rroma who are working, have education, etc.
According to the author, people who have seen the movie have had to re-think their views on Rroma.
Another documentary on Rroma beggars in Switzerland. It is amazing how a very small number of people seems to fascinate an entire country. In Lausanne, there are no more than 60 beggars at any time, and not all of them are Rroma. In Switzerland, there are at most 1’000 such beggars, thieves, prostitutes, and they are represented as a horde invading this peaceful country… Even theough there are 80 to 100 thousand well integrated Rroma there.
In Brief, another movie, another view on the same old stereotypes.
Following the case of Rroma children being bullied and humiliated by the police in a police station in Kosice, an action filmed by the police, Roma civic associations asked psychiatrists to asses the police actions based on the video that a judge refused as evidence.
Their verdict is clear: This would not have been tolerated with anyone from the mainstream population. Some of the experts spoke of systemic failure of the system and society!
Slovak police, who filmed their abuse of Rroma children in that country were acquitted of all charges, as their own videos taken from their own mobile phones was deemed to be illegally acquired evidence.
That the crime took place is not in doubt with the court, only the guilt of the police officers has not been “proven”. Crimes without culprits, especially when the police is involved is not uncommon. Unfortunately.
– Slovakia: Scandalous verdict acquits police of torturing Romani children. In: Romea.cz. 28.02.2015. http://www.romea.cz/…/slovakia-scandalous-verdict-acquits-p…
Koza – the goat – is a Slovak docu-movie on the life of a young Rroma boxer whose career peaked at the Olympic game but has since gone wrong. He lives in poverty with his girlfriend and daughter in a run down estate. The film related his life, but does not touch the subject of Rroma in Slovakia, a touchy subject.
– Simon, Alissa. Berlin Film Review: ‘Koza’. In: Variety. 11.02.2015.http://variety.com/…/re…/berlin-film-review-koza-1201434408/
A young filmmaker Sahra Denard is currently making a documentary on Rroma migrants in the city of Toulouse. She is working with three Romanian sisters who live in an camp and will go with them in Romania, in their village of origin.
While the filmmaker wants to reduce stereotypes, the choice of subject contributes to re-enforce the general views on Rroma; Migrants from Romania or Bulgaria, poor, uneducated etc. On such a topic, the line between helping and damaging Rroma is a thin one to walk.
– Sarah Denard, un documentaire sur les Roms. In: La Dépèche. 19.02.2015. http://www.ladepeche.fr/…/2052220-sarah-denard-un-documenta…
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