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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.