Rolling Film Festival

The films featured as part of the festival (mostly shorts) included local and international films made by Roma as well as non-Roma. By screening a variety of local and international films, organisers hoped that audiences could gain insight into the global situation of Roma. In selecting the films, they considered "the pervasive historical tendency towards the exoticism of Roma groups. The selection process...ensure[d] that the Rolling Film Festival does not contribute to a culture of stereotyping and misrepresentation of Roma." Another way of ensuring a balanced view of Roma was inclusion of films made by Roma themselves. While recognising that it may not be possible to completely avoid films which include some stereotyping of Roma, organisers hoped that the discussions and debates held after the screenings would touch on the consequences of this kind of social tendency.

Opening and closing events organised as part of the Festival were designed to engage people in spirited cultural gatherings. For instance, the opening ceremony featured informal presentations and performances delivered by Roma musicians, a youth theatre group from Plemetina, and the Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports. At the close of the Festival, the band Besh O Drom from Budapest, Hungary, performed folk music from Eastern Europe and the Balkan peninsula, in addition to Roma and Klezmer music.

Screenings were offered free of charge, with the public encouraged to take part in the discussions and debates. Also, during each of the 3 festival days a school programme was held; on the first day, over 200 students from Prishtina high schools participated in an educational programme led by Global Motion, a local non-governmental organisation (NGO). The students watched 4 short films and took part in an interactive discussion about diversity.

For further details about the festival, the films, and the Roma people, visit the Rolling Film Festival website.

Rights.