Film screening: Gipsy

A portrait of a young Roma rapper in Aysel Nazarli’s documentary about creativity, family ties, and tradition.

Andro is a successful musician and rapper, an artist on the label RAAVA Music which is popular on various streaming services, and his songs often make it onto online charts. He also paints and devotes a lot of time to his family: the household, holidays, gifts, joint plans, and creative projects. Andro’s family are Roma (commonly referred to as «gypsies»), for whom strong family ties and community life are part of the tradition. Accordingly, Andro got engaged at a young age, and his fiancée is also Roma. However, unlike the older generations, the rapper is not in a rush to get married and does not support the idea of early marriage.

Born into a family of very young people (the film begins with archival video of a wedding), Andro reflects on the difficulties his parents faced due to their lack of experience and their youth. He hopes that his newborn daughter will get married at the age of 30, although the little girl already has a fiancé chosen before she was born. The film does not harshly criticize traditional customs but tries to broaden the idea of how they can change with time. The film’s director and Andro’s friend Aysel Nazarli says that her idea to focus on marriage customs was suggested by her personal history: she comes from an Azerbaijani family with Iranian roots, where traditions also strongly influence the future of children.

The film will be screened in Russian and Roma with Russian subtitles.