In Search of the Exotic Gypsy

The film is an exploration of urban Greek Gypsy culture and identity. It follows the filmmaker’s journey to various Gypsy settlements in Athens , at the eve of the Olympic Games 2004. From the settlement of the Halkiday Gypsies, which is going to be demolished before the Olympics, to the more wealthy Romany Gypsy households, the film depicts the everyday life of various Gypsy clans. Maryo, Eleftheria, Nikos and Yiota share their aspirations and anxieties about the future. The film also deals with issues regarding visual representation and the camera’s effect on people’s behaviour.

RAI Ethnographic Film Festival 2005

Göttingen Film Festival 2006

Electra Bada

Electra Bada was born in Greece in 1977. She has studied Media Arts, Anthropology of Art and Visual Culture and Ethnographic Film in the UK. Other films include “Jah Music” (2002, 16min.) on Dub music and Rastafarianism in London (Portobello Film festival 2002, Kalamata International Documentary Film Festival 2002), “Roma: The Other Side” (2003, 17min.) on Gypsy culture, commissioned by Greek NGO Klimaka, “Bahtalo” (2006, 11min.) on Greek Gypsy fortune-telling (Documentary Days Festival, Thessaloniki and Folegandros, 2006). Electra currently lives and works in Athens, as a filmmaker, anthropologist and dancer.