John Orr

John started the discussion by contextualising the film. The Time of the Gypsies was made before the Balkan conflict and deals with the flamboyant, spirited and tragic lives of a gypsy community in former Yugoslavia. Despite the partly neo-realist feel of the film, it is also fuelled with fantasy segments, inexplicable symbolism, absurd situations and references to Gangster films. This indicates that Kusturica's is less interested in presenting a realistic view of gypsy life, rather he creates a very distinctive cinematic world which is influenced by other cultures. John explained how Kusturica's particular brand of cinema follows in a tradition of magic realist films from Russia and other East European countries as well as being influenced by the exuberant characterisation of Fellini.

The gypsy community reflected here comprises a mixture of religious influences - Serbian Christianity, Muslim and pagan elements may reflect the country's different competing factions at the time. In this sense it could be said this is an unconscious premonition of the conflict to come. The glamour of Hollywood, crime and capitalism also seem to add themselves into this cultural chaos making Kusturica's world appear even stranger.

In the discussion many of these themes were explored further.

We failed to find the meaning of the rotten petrol pump in the dream sequence but had more success in trying to explain Kusturica's use of birds. We discussed how this film was received both positively and negatively by the gypsy community. The family structures in the film - especially as parents seemed to be missing - provoked a strong debate.

The film was generally admired by the discussion group and the packed screening beforehand confirmed the popularity of this film and its director Emir Kusturica.

Film Notes

Director: Emir Kusturica. Yugoslavia 1989. 136 mins - with guest speaker j Duke Of York's PictureHouse, 6.30pm. In April, BIFS goes to former Yugoslavia for Kusturica's profound masterpiece that gives a fascinating insight into gypsy life. A film that won Emir Kusturica the best director award at Cannes, Time of the Gypsies is a hypnotic film that offers a rare glimpse into the Romany gypsy culture surviving in a curious world of mafia and mysticism, misery and music. A deeply moving film set in Sarajevo, in Romany language, it tells the story of a naïve teenager’s passage to adulthood, a tale of lost innocence and an affirmation of love. The film combines a gritty documentary style with haunting imagery, folklore and music to transform into a visual and lyrical exploration of the little known culture of the gypsies with a cast of mostly illeterate Romany non-professionals. The film has an array of rich characters, the lead being Perhan. Born the illegitimate son of a gypsy girl and a soldier in post-war Yugoslavia, Perhan belongs nowhere. When his mother dies and his father abandons him he goes to live with his Romany grandmother. Perhan is tricked into traveling to Italy and forced to lead the life of a petty criminal. When he returns, he finds everything has gone wrong. He starts on a mission to find the culprit. Our guest speaker : Prof John Orr. We are honoured to have with us an expert on European cinema who has written extensively on this subject, to introduce Emir Kusturica’s Time of the Gypsies and lead the post-film discussion. Professor Emeritus in the School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, John Orr is the author of books on contemporary cinema, art and politics of film, and on filmmakers like Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda.