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When the Velcu family left Romania to resettle in Germany, their filmmaker friends from Berlin were there to film their move. The family council welcomed their suggestion that a film be made about their new life. Colorado Velcu, the father of the family who has kept wonderful journals since his youth, was made co-director alongside Philip Scheffner, above all due to his knack for staging and his feel for the artistic talents of his children, nephews, sisters and brothers-in-law. Bollywood fans one and all, their story becomes a real life family saga – with its own theme song! There is the first Velcu to be born in Berlin, the painful farewell to relatives leaving for Spain in pursuit of better financial prospects, the wife locked away in a distant Romanian prison – and the parks of Berlin become the bucolic setting for smoky picnics. How this Velcu saga came into being is a frequent topic of discussion among the participants, making this sometimes melancholy, sometimes hugely funny and charming film into an intelligent meta-movie about ethnographic filmmaking, about media images and stereotypes about Roma families today. (Dorothee Wenner)
Production: pong Film, Berlin; Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin / Potsdam
Screenplay: Colorado Velcu, Merle Kröger, Philip Scheffner
Camera: Coloradu Velcu, Philip Scheffner, Parizan Nistor, Casino Nistor, Mario Ilie, Emporio Ilie, Noami Nistor, Fecioara Velcu, Zefir Chiciu, Jeckichan Velcu, Rața Miclescu, Calil Velcu, Donadoni Miclescu, Bernd Meiners
Format: DCP 1:1.85, Colour
Running time: 93 min
Languages: Romani, Romanian
Photo: © Khaled Abdulwahed
