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The Gypsies Of Svinia
| Length: | 58 min |
| Released: | 2000 |
| Ages: |
College Adult |
Moved by a sense of outrage, David Scheffel, a Canadian anthropologist, is determined to help the impoverished Roma (Gypsies) rebuild their community in Svinia, a village in Eastern Slovakia. So-called "white" Svinia is a picturesque, typical Slovak village with well-kept homes, gardens, a store, and a school. A little past the last "white" home is "black" Svinia, where life is characterized by decay and despair.
The Roma dwell in squalid tenement blocks or in one-room huts without clean water or sewage facilities and little hope of employment. "White" Svinia despises the Roma who, in desperation, regularly burglarize their homes and gardens. Some "white" residents praise Hitler's policy of trying to exterminate the Roma. This powerful film gives an unprecedented look at a degraded ethnic group right in the middle of Europe, and the efforts being made to improve their lot.
The Roma dwell in squalid tenement blocks or in one-room huts without clean water or sewage facilities and little hope of employment. "White" Svinia despises the Roma who, in desperation, regularly burglarize their homes and gardens. Some "white" residents praise Hitler's policy of trying to exterminate the Roma. This powerful film gives an unprecedented look at a degraded ethnic group right in the middle of Europe, and the efforts being made to improve their lot.
"As a socio-political document, the film is a devastating account in meticulous detail of how persecution, stereotyping, and genocide, operate in a ‘civilized' country."
‒Toronto Sun
‒Toronto Sun
Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Video Festival, 2000
Hon. Men., Columbus Internaitonal Film and Video Festival, 1999
Hon. Men., Columbus Internaitonal Film and Video Festival, 1999
• Anthropology
• Europe
