Tony Gatlif, the French director of greater than 20 movies that principally targeting celebrating Roma tradition the world over, has died aged 77.
His household stated in an announcement to AFP that Gatlif died on Wednesday of “a well being problem” whereas engaged on a “historic movie undertaking” in Arles in Provence, France. “The fantastic thing about his movies, his generosity, his pleasure, his poetry, and his love of music will stay with us eternally.”
The assertion, from his spouse, youngsters and grandchildren wished him “Latcho Drom”, a Roma phrase which means “secure journey”.
Latcho Drom can also be the title of Gatlif’s breakthrough 1993 movie, a celebration of Roma music that strikes from India to Spain, and which received the Un Sure Regard award on the Cannes movie pageant that yr.
Gatlif had extra success in 1997 with Gadjo Dilo, which featured Romain Duris as a Frenchman who’s trying to find a Roma singer in Romania; it received a Silver Leopard on the Locarno movie pageant and a César award for finest authentic music.
Gatlif was born Michel Dahmani in 1948 in Algeria, of half Berber and half Roma heritage. He left Algeria for France in 1960 in the course of the Algerian warfare of independence and had a troublesome life as a rootless teenager, telling AFP: “I was violent; you didn’t wish to mess with me; I used to be a nasty child … I wouldn’t hearken to anybody; to me, adults – everybody – had been enemies.” He modified his title to Gatlif, after a park in Algiers, after being stopped by the police as a 12-year-old.
Amongst his later movies, Exils, additionally starring Duris, explored his Algerian heritage, and received the perfect director award at Cannes in 2004.
Catherine Pégard, France’s minister of tradition stated that Gatlif “had a passion for the highway much less travelled, for blurring borders, and for lives that too usually go unnoticed”. She added: “He filmed music, motion, exile, and freedom with an vitality that was uniquely his personal.”
