Moving On

Images of Romanies and Travellers have been present in cinema since its earliest days, but authentic images from Romani filmmakers have only emerged inthe last two decades. Mark Venner provides an overview of travelling people on film.

Romanies, popularly though inaccurately called Gypsies, have occupied an important place in the collective fantasies of the Gadze (non-Romani) for well over 500 years. Everywhere in Europe, throughout North and South America, in Australia, as well as North Africa and Asia, people are found who refer to themselves as Romani, and who maintain a language and culture which sets them apart from the countries in which they live. Though this scattered population, which numbers over 12 million, calls itself Romani, the people among whom they live refer to them by other, sometimes derogatory, names: 'Zingari', 'Gitanos', 'Gypsies', 'Pykies', 'Diddaicois' and so on. Almost all the popular knowledge about these peoples comes not from social interaction or direct contact, but from the way they have been depicted in stories and song, and more recently cinema and the media.

The cinematic image of the 'Gypsy' was informed by such 19th century novels as Lavengro, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Wuthering Heights; stage plays like Zara the Gipsy, and operas like Carmen and Der Zigeunerbaron. In popular fiction a 'mythical' image of the 'Gypsy' was cultivated in which the male is invariably a thief; violent and primitive, while the female often appears as a wanton seducer of innocent non- Romani males. At the beginning of the 20th century film scriptwriters were quick to develop ideas for their screenplays from these prejudices, placing Romani characters in a context marked by an overwhelming ignorance of the true nature of Romani culture and heritage.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 99