Director Tony Gatlif voice of the gypsy community died at age 77

“ A the beauty of his films, generosity, joy, poetry and his love for music will remain with us forever”, said the family in a statement quoted by the Agency France-Presse (AFP).

According to the news agency, Tony Gatlif died in Arles, in the Camarga region of southeastern France, following a health problem, while preparing the project for a “historical film”.

Tony Gatlif, who has gypsy roots, was born in 1948 in Algiers, under the name Michel Dahamani, but lived in France from the 1960s, having discovered the theater through actor Michel Simon, after a lifetime of violence, crime and errancy.

In the life profile, AFP recalls that in early adolescence, after a police raid, it changed its name to Tony Gatlif, to avoid being deported to Algeria. He went through a correction center and was sent to the Camarga region, deeply linked to Rom and Gypsy culture.

“ I was violent, I wasn't supposed to touch myself, I was a bad boy (...), I wouldn't listen to anyone; for me, adults, all people, were enemies. ... From the moment I stepped on Camarga I began to listen, and this is due to the respect with which people spoke to me, without prejudices ", said in an interview, in 2021.

He debuted as director in 1975 with “La tête em ruines”, followed by “Run, Gitano” (1982), the first film in which he reflects on the social condition of Roma communities.

“Latcho Drom” (1992), a documentary on Gypsy music, whose title refers to a Gypsy expression meaning “Good Travel”, won him a prize at the Cannes Festival, which years later would award him the award for the autobiographical “Exiles” (2004).

In 1997, “Gadjo Dilo” earned the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Festival in Switzerland.

“Indignados” (2012), “Djam” (2017) and “Tony Medina” (2021) are other Tony Gatlif films, which passed in 2021 at the Lisbon Film Festival LEFFEST, where he was one of the honored guests.

“Tony Gatlif had a particular taste for alternative paths, for borders that fall apart, for lives to which we pay little attention. He filmed music, movement, exile and freedom with an energy of his own,” wrote French Minister of Culture Catherine Pégard on social network X.