Programmer's Note

Capturing the Romani settlements of Eastern Slovakia in dazzling chiaroscuro, director Martin Šulík boldly plays with the strong contrasts between light and dark to enhance Gypsy’s beautifully textured visuals.

Zeroing in on the struggle between a sweet-natured fourteen-year-old boy named Adam (Ján Mižigár) and his rogue uncleturned- stepfather Žigo (Miroslav Gulyas), Šulík is one of the precious few to treat the Romani as individuals, rather than cutting corners like so many other filmmakers have done in the past.

The director never suggests that these people do anything other than what they feel is necessary to survive. Take Adam’s mother: before her dead husband’s features even have time to settle into their final expression, she swiftly moves on to his brother and becomes pregnant with her fifth child. It wasn’t romance — it was the need to keep her family afloat. With few other options, the no-good wheeler-dealer Žigo was her only chance at doing so.

Acutely aware of their circumstances, Adam doesn’t pass judgment on his hardluck mother, a symbol of maternal beauty who once loomed large over his world. With his mother diminished, the only thing from which he can now draw strength are the daily visits from his father’s kindly phantom, who tries to help him tackle this Gordian knot.

Pulled in two different directions by his enduring love for his surviving parent and his growing hatred for his new stepfather, there’s only one way out. Adam’s domestic misery can only be solved with a bold stroke.