Vojta Lavička: Nahoru a dolů

13 years ago, director Bob Entrop made the film A piece of blue in the sky, the first film in the Netherlands that depicted the murder of almost 1 million Sinti and Roma during the Second World War. There is a taboo on what happened during the war, you don't talk about it with anyone and certainly not in front of a camera. Requiem for Auschwitz is a sequel, with the most valuable moments from the first film, supplemented with the grandchildren and the creation and performance of the 'Requiem for Auschwitz' by Sinti composer Roger Moreno Rathgeb by the Sinti and Roma Philharmonic from Frankfurt and a Jewish choir in the Berliner Dom in Berlin, during Holocaust Memorial Day. During his visit to Auschwitz in 2020 with four musicians from the Dutch Accompaniment Orchestra, Roger shows them the places that inspired him.

A musical, and also a reflection on watching, on trying to escape an anthropocentric gaze and also on watching itself in cinema. Featuring mares and horses: Triana, Víctor K, Bambi Sailor, San Special Solano, Buck Red Skin, Onkaia, Cool Boy, the donkey Agostino, the mule Guapa. And also Alfredo Lagos, Raül Refree, María Marín, Pepe Habichuela, Virgina García del Pino, María García Ruiz, Pilar Monsell, María Pérez Sanz.

When Czech singer Ida Kelarová meets the young Roma singer, Vierka Berkyová, she discovers an extraordinary and vibrant talent. Determined to develop her musical abilities and career, she brings her and her family from their home in Slovakia to live in the Czech Republic. They are encouraged to learn new routines and develop their lives in a variety of 'productive' ways. Then, one day they disappear without trace. What began as a document about Verika develops into a mystery. [taken from the London Film Festival 2006 catalogue]

The film is separated into four chapters, each tracking a different group of protagonists who all have one thing in common – they were born deaf. Little Sandra likes to play football and admires Ronaldinho. Marián worships trains and wants to be an engine driver. Teenagers Alena and René are expecting a baby and long for it to be born healthy. The trio of Roman, Kristián and Karmen help their parents by collecting junk to be sold and dream of one day having a house with a flush toilet.

The central figure of the documentary is Robin Stria, an amateur filmmaker who is trying to create the first Roma sitcom in the Czech Republic. Its title - Miri Fajta - means My Family in Romani, and the Romani creator wants to tell a story about Romani using Romani actors. At the same time, it offers him the opportunity to think more deeply about his identity and show it at a time when the issue of self-awareness is also a problem of representation, because Roma creators are scarce.

A vivid documentary portrait of Véra Bílá (1954-2019), a Gypsy singer acclaimed in the international music world. The film explores Romany culture and what it means to be part of a marginalized minority group. She was dubbed the Ella Fitzgerald of Romani music. The Czech singer enjoyed international success in the late Nineties when she was signed to the German record label BMG.