Patrin Films Ltd in collaboration with FILMFEST DRESDEN present: The Romani Gaze – Resistance and Reclamation.

In an age shaped by rising populism and growing divides, we find ourselves at a cultural crossroads—confronting urgent questions about belonging, representation, and justice.

With over 12 million Roma people living across Europe, a population larger than many European countries—their stories remain glaringly absent from our screens. For far too long, cinema has reflected a distorted image: one built on stereotypes and societal bias, rather than truth.

This programme breaks that mirror.
Featuring five bold, genre-spanning films, The Romani Gaze centres Roma voices with nuance, depth, and dignity. These stories refuse erasure and reclaim space in a medium that has too often silenced them.

For centuries, Roma communities have faced systemic exclusion - barred from equal access to housing, healthcare, education, and employment, and subjected to forced evictions, police violence, and racist abuse. Yet their resilience endures. These films are not just stories; they are acts of resistance.

• In 15 MINUTES, director Sejad Ademaj follows a German Roma teenager whose ordinary evening spirals into a nightmare of looming deportation.

• OMARA by Abel Santa honours Hungarian Roma painter Mara Oláh, whose fierce creativity turned prejudice into power.

• In CARMEN, NO FEAR OF FREEDOM, Irene Baqué documents a trailblazing feminist Roma movement in Spain, confronting both racism and patriarchy.

• JUSTICE, by Sifonios and Baraj, gives voice to a family in Greece demanding answers after a police killing.

• And in NONCIA, Hamze Bytyci animates a vital, forgotten chapter of Roma resistance.

These films challenge injustice, reframe identity, and invite audiences to see with new eyes.
They are cinema as confrontation, as healing and above all, as reclamation.

For tickets please visit: https://www.filmfest-dresden.de/en/programme/online-programme