Romanistan

On May 25, 2019, Luca Vitone and his crew left Bologna for Chandigarh, to retrace the 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.