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    • New Talents Open Call
      Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) began in The Netherlands in 2008 with the idea to offer Dutch and international audiences a unique glimpse into the cinema of their neighbors from Eastern and Southern Europe. This annual event presents the most recent, exciting, and thought‐provoking films, from countries with small, but often powerful film industries, that… Read more: New Talents Open Call
    • ENFF 2023 On Demand!
      Unable To attend the festival in person? No problem! From November 27th to December 3rd, we’re thrilled to bring you a curated selection of this year’s films available for online viewing! Catch our captivating Opening Film Ivan’s Land, or the touching Closing Film Seventh Heaven. Or explore a collection of shorts from the New Talents Competition! Follow along… Read more: ENFF 2023 On Demand!
    • What’s up in Slovak Cinema? A conversation with Monika Lostakova
      We talked with Monika Lošťáková about contemporary Slovak cinema.
    • ENFF and the Eastern European Film Festival Network!
      The Eastern European Film Festival Network brings together five film festivals dedicated to promoting and showcasing Eastern European cinema, alongside one partner organisation.
    • Masterclasses
      Through these masterclasses we approach two memory in film from different angles: memories from a personal or collective recollection through archive material.
    • Work in Progress
      In Work in Progress, emerging filmmakers and artists will present their works in development to the audience and engage in discussions with Dutch experts.
    • Festival Timetable Available!
    • Check out the catalogue for our 2023 edition!
    • Music at ENFF
      Every year, ENFF brings special musical guests who bring beauty to the program and further represent the rich cultures of their countries to a Dutch audience.
    • Film Marathon
      Join us for the Film Marathon, a new concept in which we merge two components, Short Films, Big Stories, and New Talents Competition into a whole-day screening of short films!

ENFF On Tour: Papusza

23 September 2016 | 19:30h | Laaktheater | Ferrandweg 4T, 2523 XT Den Haag

Eastern Neighbours brings in the Hague the true story of Papusza, the first Roma woman who put her poems into writing and published them, confronting the traditional female’s image in the Gypsy community.

A biopic of amazingly gifted woman who wanted to preserve her Roma culture with words, but had to pay a painful price for that. The Polish poet Jerzy Ficowski discovered her great talent for poetry and published her works, but this led to a tragic paradox: a famous poet was living in poverty, rejected by the Roma community, for betraying their secrets.

Director/Writer: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze | Producer: Lambros Ziotas – Argomedia Sp. Z o.o.; Telewizja Polska S.A., Canal+ Polska, Studio Filmowe KADR | Cast: Jowita Budnik, Zbigniew Walerys, Antoni Pawlicki | Editor: Krzystof Szpetmanski | Camera: Krzysztof Ptak, Wojciech Staron | Year: 2013 | Length: 131 min | Country: Poland | Subtitles: English

Festivals & Awards (selection)

Karlovy Vary IFF, 2013 – Special Mention | Thessaloniki FF, 2013 – Open Horizons Award | Valladolid IFF – Best Director Award, Best Actor Award, Youth Jury Award | Istanbul IFF, 2014 – Special Prize of the Jury

Director’s Statement

Papusza was a Roma girl, born in a carriage, an autodidact, who in the end was mentioned in the world‘s encyclopedias and had her work translated into many languages. She was also named as one of the 60 most important women in Polish history. Isn‘t this an astonishing destiny worth to be told in an epic film? For us, it was also an opportunity to introduce the world of the Romas and to give it back its dignity.