SMALL ROMA STORIES
ΜΙΚΡΕΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΕΣ ΡΟΜΑ
Feature-length documentary · 2014
1 / 1
Synopsis
“They call all of us gypsies, tsigani, they lump us all into the same fate. We are not the same people…”
Athanasia, Thodoros, Giorgos, Chrysoula… live and move about in Zefyri, in Menidi and the wider area. They no longer live in tents and encampments, but in a contemporary urban environment, each according to their means. Their children and grandchildren try to learn their letters…
Through small stories the subjects tell about their own lives, each of them gradually unfolds his or her own distinct identity and personality. They become people with dreams, hopes and disappointments… but also with a heavy heritage. “…if you don't have wings to fly, how will you fly?” Athanasia murmurs near the end.
Film credits
- Genre
- Feature-length documentary
- Year
- 2014
- Direction – Screenplay – Sound recording – Editing
- Stavros Psillakis
- Cinematography
- Michalis Geranios
- Assistant cinematography
- Manos Kritsotakis
- Original music
- Vasilis Dimitriadis
- Mixing & sound studios
- Vangelis Fampas, “Massive Productions”
- Production
- Stavros Psillakis — Greek Film Centre, Byzantine & Christian Museum
- Shooting locations
- Zefyri, Menidi, Ano Liosia
Awards
- 1st Award for Feature-Length Documentary, 3rd International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra (August 2016) — shared with the documentary memORIAL
- 2nd Award for Social-Political Documentary, 2nd International Documentary Festival BEYOND BORDERS (Kastellorizo, September 2017)
Director’s note
Small Roma Stories was made as part of a broader European initiative concerning the Roma. The subject and its approach were entirely the director's own choice.
The film's direction was shaped, on one hand, by budgetary constraints, and on the other, by the wish to focus on specific people and characters. We were not interested in the colourful but faceless element of communal life in the encampments, however fascinating it may be. Instead, within the new reality of Roma integration into the urban environment, we wanted to dwell on the dreams, ambitions and lives of specific people — and to remember them, in the end.
The film focuses on areas on the fringes of the city, such as Zefyri and Ano Liosia, difficult and troubled places. We tried to bring out aspects of this reality through the small stories of the people themselves. Some things we achieved, others we did not. That, however, is for the viewer to judge.
Full transcript
Photographs
1 / 5