AMERICAN GYPSY: A STRANGER IN EVERYBODY'S LAND (TV)
Summary
This documentary film explores the chronology of the historically maligned nomadic peoples known as "Gypsies." Director Jasmine Dellal focuses on the Marks family in Spokane, Washington, in an effort to illustrate some of the difficulties that the "Gypsies" face as they struggle to maintain a careful balance of assimilation and tradition. Dellal opens the program with archival footage from several silent films that portray "Gypsies" as thieving savages. Dellal moves on to a recent New York Times poll on xenophobia that revealed that people surveyed for the poll listed "Gypsies" as their number one most distrusted and disliked group by an overwhelming majority; "Gypsies" ranked number one over a fictional control group called "the Wisian people." Dellal then gives some history of the people, who prefer to be referred to as Romani -- or Roma for short. Europeans who encountered the first bunch of exiled Romani people thought they were Egyptian because of their skin tone, Dellal explains, so the name "Gypsies" was given to them.
Dellal then introduces Jimmie Marks, a Roma who tells her that he is going to be the focus of a great deal of criticism from the notoriously protective and secretive members of his community. Marks explains that he has chosen to participate in the "Gaji," or non-Gypsy, documentary because he wants to do his part in clearing up many misconceptions of his people. Dellal follows Marks and his father Grover, who serves as the "king" of the Spokane community, as they file a lawsuit against the Spokane police. The police conducted an admittedly illegal search of the family's home and car dealership, and Marks asserts that they were targeted because of their ethnicity. Dellal then looks at the few Romani who have been able to transcend the discrimination in popular culture; the two major figures are actor Yul Brenner and jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. She also includes clips of a speech Vice President Al Gore gave at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C, where a number of Roma protested the lack of attention given to the genocide of Gypsies that preceded the death of the Jews. Dellal follows Jimmie and Grover Marks to "The Jerry Springer Show" (where the family faces a hostile audience) and then, ultimately, to court, for the announcement of their settlement with the city of Spokane.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: August 29, 2000 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:19:34
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:64244
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Education/Information; Roma people; Gypsies; Talk/Interview
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 2000
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jasmine Dellal … Producer, Director, Writer
- Nora Cadena … Associate Producer
- Gail Firth … Associate Producer
- Yul Brenner
- Al Gore
- Jimmie Marks
- Grover Marks
- Django Reinhardt
- Jerry Springer