Cineromani – Empowering Roma Filmmakers

There are only a handful of Roma directors who work in the diverse European film scene today. For a culture with no boundaries or national representation, it is especially difficult for Roma to gain access to film production, marketing and funding structures.
The film festival “Cineromani – Empowering Roma Filmmakers” wanted to improve this situation. First, it presented an extensive historic film retrospective of the Roma culture at the Zeughauskino. In cooperation with members of the International Romani Film Commission (IRFC), a two-day film show presented selected contemporary audio-visual works at the Collegium Hungaricum in Berlin. In addition to works by well-known filmmakers such as Toni Gatlif, the event presented the latest positions of the Roma community with current productions by talented, up-and-coming film artists.
Along with public film presentations, the festival also offered a number of closed workshops for young filmmakers to discuss long-term career strategies with established professionals. The artistic and thematic content developed at the Cineromani film festival featured as one of the programme highlights at the Cottbus Film Festival in autumn 2013.

Artistic director: János Can Togay
Project director: Corinna Erlebach
Project assistant: Anita Gerencsér
Artists: Katalin Barsony (HU), Hamze Bytyci, Toni Gatlif (FR), Damian James Le Bas (GB), Dejan Markovic (CS), Sami Mustafa (XZ), Judit Stalter (HU), Ivor Stodolsky (FIN/USA)