Past Film/Video | Classics | Series & Festivals

Latcho Drom

(Tony Gatlif, 1993, France)

Four women stand together with their hair blowing in the wind. They appear to be singing.

Part travelogue, part documentary, this singular musical experience tracks the global migration of the Romani people. 

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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IMAGE CAPTION
Latcho Drom, courtesy of KG Productions.

"A difficult-to-categorize masterpiece...The pulse is so infectious that you may feel like dancing."
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

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COPROMOTIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Getaway Brewing
Seventh Son
Antiques on High

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY 
National Endowment for the Arts 
Ohio Humanities

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY 
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY 
Ohio Department of Development

Greater Columbus Arts Council

The Wexner Family 
Institute of Museum and Library Services

Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts 
CampusParc 
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme 
The Columbus Foundation 
Axium Packaging 
Nationwide Foundation 
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY 
Mike and Paige Crane 
Nancy Kramer 
Ohio State Energy Partners 
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection 
Larry and Donna James 
David Crane and Elizabeth Dang 
Bruce and Joy Soll 
Melissa Gilliam and William Grobman 
Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle 
Jones Day 
Alex and Renée Shumate

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Past Film/Video

Latcho Drom