Dajori

The Third End of the Stick

2023

Otherness in otherness. What does it mean to be different in a community that is itself excluded from society? The documentary follows the fate of Roma who have become a minority in a minority society. Roma gays and transvestite search for their living space and dream of working abroad. A legless father of five longs for a wheelchair. A Roma grandmother sacrifices her life for the health of her beloved grandson. Will Emil, a Roma man who has found faith in God, be able to save his son from alcohol? Four stories from the poorest Roma settlements in Slovakia aim to break down prejudices between the Roma community and the white majority.

Une vie en transit, ou l'illusion du provisoire

2024

No synopsis available.

The Impossibility

2025 · ★ 10

The director Tomáš Hlaváček is loosely building upon the time-lapse documentary Housing Against Everyone, in which he captured the dispute surrounding the Rapid Re-Housing project in Brno. The topic of decent housing for families in need is also addressed in The Impossibility. People occupying rental apartments in Brno's “Kuncovka” wanted hot water, electricity and fair negotiations. Instead, they received bullying and threats from the owner, who, in his own words, “does not like coloured people”. Neither the police nor the city helped them. So they joined forces with activists and lawyers to fight for their rights. Hlaváček chronicles the months-long conflict with its legal follow-up as an engaged observer.

Roma Boys – The Love Story

2009

The film explores the taboo subject of homosexuality within the Roma community through the personal story of a Roma activist who happens to be gay. Though his job has earned him respect among his peers, by coming out his status is in jeopardy. However, the desire to share his complex story prompted him to write a screenplay based on his life. Partly a documentary about his autobiographical script, the film switches between documentary and narrative storytelling. Owing to its distinctive style, the film offers a glimpse into the protagonist's world as he faces triple discrimination: as a Roma, as a gay man, and as a gay man in the Roma community.

Gypsy Blood

2014 · ★ 5

Roma are an important part of Ukraine's population. There are quite a large number of them living in the country—between fifty and one hundred thousand. This documentary shows the peculiarities of the Gypsy people's life in modern society. You will see the stories of five Gypsy barons who will talk about the traditions of their people and reveal some secrets that were previously known only to the Roma.

Grigny, la fabrique de la banlieue

2026 · ★ 8

As France's first ZAC (Zone d'Aménagement Concerté, or concerted development zone), Grigny is the ideal place to describe how France transformed its dream of a happy suburb into an impoverished urban nightmare. The film aims to leave the camera rolling throughout the story, to discover the inhabitants and the labyrinths of yesterday and today, and to answer the essential questions. From the residents to the architects, including the city of Grigny, the mayor, the prefect, the landlords, and the ANRU (National Agency for Urban Renewal), the film examines and deciphers the consequences of what happened in Grigny and the state's housing policy. Through the analysis of Grigny's history, we see how the state has participated and continues to participate in the creation of social exclusion.

Acasă, My Home

2020 · ★ 6.7

In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents lived in perfect harmony with nature for 20 years – until they are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city.

Citizen Miko

2023 · ★ 2

Miko is a truck driver, his father is Romani, and above all he is a man who wanted to help those in need. When the Czech government was looking for reasons not to take in a few dozen children from Greek refugee camps after the chemical attacks on Syrian civilians in 2018, Miko took justice into his own hands and, together with the Czechs Helping initiative, prepared facilities for child refugees. However, government officials gave priority to political interests. Will parliamentary elections and a change of ministries save the situation? An unflattering but accurately portrayal of the Czech Republic as a country that will only offer a helping hand when it is worthwhile.

Leaving to Remain

2023

With the UK’s hardening immigration policy in the background, director Mira Erdevički follows the lives of three Roma: Petr Torák, Denisa Gannon and Ondrej Oláh. Settled in the UK over 20 years ago, the trio still feel attached to their native Slovakia and the Czech Republic. As the country goes into lockdown, they film their lives throughout the Covid pandemic and the aftermath of Brexit.

Carmen

A documentary about a young Finnish Romany Carmen, 11, who lives with her grandmother and aunt in the suburb of a small town in Northern Finland.

The Gypsies of Svinia

1998

Moved by a sense of outrage, David Scheffel, a Canadian anthropologist, is determined to help the impoverished Roma (Gypsies) rebuild their community in the eastern Slovakian village of Svinia. So-called “white” Svinia is a picturesque, typical Slovak village with well-kept homes, gardens, a store and a school. Some 300 metres past the last home is “black” Svinia, where the Roma live in squalid tenement blocks and one-room huts of sticks and mud-with no clean water or sewage facilities and with little hope of employment. Many Svinians, whose homes and gardens are regularly burglarized by the desperate Roma, have lost all patience and sympathy. Throughout Eastern Europe, the painful transition from communism to democracy has relegated the Roma to the farthest, most grotesque margins of society. The Gypsies of Svinia is a testament to the firm resolve of Scheffel and the Roma to make things better.

Hood Movie: Is the City One Only?

2011 · ★ 6

The city of Brasilia hoped to become, from its very architecture, the expression of modern urban conception and an egalitarian society. However, neither the workers hired to pursue this project, nor the constant migratory flow that took place from the beginning, fitted in the government’s plan. In 1971, it began what was known as the “Campaign to Eradicate Invaders”. Together with other locals, the director reflects on the history, the transformations and the future of this place where the hypocritical official jingle “A cidade é uma só!” is no longer heard.