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A film by Menelaos Karamaghiolis (Greece, 1989, 75'). « ROM is an avant-garde film produced by Greek National TV - after years of negotiations to persuade them to produce a film about Romani people in Greece. It was the first time that the word “Rom” was used in Greek society and it provoked problems with Greek television which censored the film on its television premiere in 1989. The committee thought that the film was insulting to Greek society and its religious sentiments. The good point is that the film (and its soundtrack) became popular and circulated worldwide to the point of being identified as the “turning point in Greek documentary film” by Katerina Athanasiadou. For me it is crucial and interesting that one year after the film ROM was produced, the situation of the Greek Gypsies completely changed. Nevertheless, nowadays, the population in Greek youth detention centres is constituted of 90% of young Roma boys. » (Menelaos Karamaghiolis)
