Culture Behind the Curtain
Screening of the documentary film about the Roma community of Calderari “Culture Behind the Curtain”, created with the support of House of Europe. The event took place in Uzhhorod, at the “Gallery ILKO”.
A documentary project in which representatives of the Calderari community can talk about their lives – from everyday life to choice, from family models to the right to education and self-realization. Through the voices of women, for whom freedom of choice is still limited since childhood, the question of how to preserve cultural identity without losing the right to education, self-realization and dignity is raised.
The film “Culture Behind the Curtain” was created by the “Public Broadcasting” team.
The host was Anastasia Hudyma, who is a producer. The authors of the project: Tetyana Shimon, Nadiya Stadnytska, Simona Nesterenko-Shatro, editing director Beila Balla, cameraman Mykhailo Pozhega – were present at the screening.
Tetyana Shimon, together with her colleagues Nadia Stadnytska and Simona Nesterenko-Shatro, spoke about their impressions and hospitality. As well as the difficulties with filming. At the beginning of the work, the goal was to talk about culture. But later there was a desire to talk about the closed Roma community. And raise an important topic for society, destroying stereotypes. Special thanks were expressed to the heroes for their sincerity and trust in the team, as well as to Simona, who was the leader and helped to establish a dialogue in difficult conversations.
“It is important for us not only to show cooperation with communities on the air, but to really establish real interaction with them. After all, in addition to our main audience, we also focus on representatives of national communities. We want to unite with our projects, and not to divide Ukraine as a whole,” added Anastasia Hudyma.
The main characters were a Roma activist. Blogger from Odessa, Zinaida Prokopenko, David Bohar, head of the Roma community of Vynohradiv region, and his wife Kateryna Bohar, a seamstress, co-founder of the atelier. They opened a new page in the life of the Kalderari, showed their own life to Zinaida, who came to visit them. She saw that they have a common goal, but a completely different lifestyle. The girl tells and shows her culture in her blog. And Kateryna recreates it with her dresses, which she sews herself. This is what distinguishes them.
Also, those who wanted could share their impressions, thoughts and talk with the heroes and authors after the film screening.
A representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights, Andriy Kryuchkov, spoke to those present in the hall, thanking the implementation team of “Public” and the heroes of the film. He emphasized the successful combination of a self-sufficient woman and the complete opposite, led by David Bohar. He added about the importance of education and integration in the Roma society. He advised to highlight another side of the life of the Roma in the cities of Uzhhorod, Vynohradiv and others.
As a viewer and journalist, Iryna Kovalchuk, shared her enthusiasm, emotion and watching the film in one breath. She congratulated her friends-colleagues on their unsurpassed work, who showed their efforts perfectly. Of course, she asked about the store where the dresses were sewn, which impressed her so much. She could not resist and decided to buy at least one. The viewer deeply and deeply felt the culture and tradition of the Roma thanks to the project.
Myroslav Horvat is a representative of the Roma of Transcarpathia. He is proud of his origin, feels dignity for his land. Traveling the world, Myroslav confirmed that he is happy that he was born in Transcarpathia. He is sincerely happy to be able to share stories about the life of the Roma. He speaks with gratitude about everyone who takes photos, writes, asks questions. Because thanks to this, Roma culture becomes more popular and understandable to society.
“Culture is not what divides us, it is what unites us.” – Zinaida affirmed.
After the screening, everyone who wanted had the opportunity to take joint photos, communicate live and hear more stories and plans for the future.
