Latcho Drom

Shot in the glorious panoramas of widescreen CinemaScope, Latcho Drom (safe journey) follows the thousand-year migration of the nomadic Romani people. Beginning in Northern India and then traveling through Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France, and Spain, each scene features members of the local Romani communities. Capturing both continuity and diversity from region to region, the film highlights music and dance, and, with very few subtitles, a sense of unrepressed joy in the face of struggles. Great Algerian-born French Romani filmmaker Tony Gatlif said about Latcho Drom, “I wanted to make a film that the Roms could be proud of—a film that wouldn’t make a slideshow of their misery. I wanted to write a song of praise to these people I love.” The film is nearly impossible to see outside of poor-quality bootlegs, so this screening is a rare treat! In Romani, Arabic, French, Hungarian, Slovak, Spanish, and Turkish with English subtitles. (103 mins., DCP)

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Latcho Drom, courtesy of KG Productions.