Roma people’s migration from North West India to Europe at the end of the first millennium. His troupe comprised an exponent of Romaní culture in Italy, a director of photography, a sound engineer, production and logistics employee and two drivers. The film, a true road movie, opens symbolically on the frescoes of the first Roma painter, Antonio Solario, called the Zingaro. In two vans, over nearly two months, the crew crossed the Balkans, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Pakistan to reach India. They interviewed Roma living in those countries: the Croatian parliamentary minister Veljko Kajtazi, activist Lilyana Kovatcheva, journalist Orhan Galjus, musician and teacher Santino Spinelli, among others. Moments of life alternate with views of the many landscapes crossed. The title Romanistan derives from Manush Romanov’s idea of a utopian Roma nation.

 

 

Luca Vitone 

 

Born in 1964 in Genoa, Luca Vitone began to work in the second half of the ’80s. His work explores the way places are identified through cultural production: art, cartography, music, cuisine, political associations, ethnic minorities. Since 2006 he has been teaching at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan. The work of Luca Vitone has been shown in public and private space both in Italy and abroad, among them: Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome (2019); Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow (2018); P.A.C., Milan (2017); Triennale di Milano (2015); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2014); 55th Venice Biennale (2013).

Selected Filmograpy:
2014 Der Zukunft Glanz 2013 Per l’eternità 2010 Trame 2007 Trallalero in the Kitchen Live at OK