GÁJ
Česká republika, 2009, 37 min
Pavel Borecký
30.01.2010 17:00
Documentary mosaic about Czech fellow-countrymen living in a small Serbien village. 90 years ago, family Frič desired a change. They left the rough life at mountainous Banat - the Southern promontory of Rumenien Karpats - and moved to more fertile lowlands stretching along impressive Danube. Soon the others followed.
Nowadays, melody after melody is wafting from Írovič's orchard. Their son is practicing playing the harmonica. Next competition is coming soon. What does his talent mean for the Czech minority?
Gaya Czechs are the last compact social group which settled down at Serbien Banat. Eventhough they do not need to drag themselves way up the hills to reach their fields, they remind to be a minority in comparison with pure Czech Gernik.
How has this change in the course of decades influenced upcoming generations?
Language of dialogues: Czech
„Ritual reversals“ or „ritual of rebellion“ are concepts used for mock rituals performend in Southern and Eastern Africa. During fertility rituals, like rain making ceremonies, women in their songs and dances demonstrate obscene behaviour while they behave like men. These are secret performance open strictly for eldery men and women. Still, we were invited to record the rain making ceremony in the land of Chief Chassuka, Manika Province in Mozambique in order to document the ritual for the younger generations. These rituals are a fading tradition probably due to the special character of the songs and dances.
‘Roya and Omid’ is an exploration of transsexuality in Iran. Bardia, a young female-to-male transsexual reflects on his childhood spent in the wrong body, when he was known as Roya (‘dream’ in Persian), but wished to be Omid (‘hope’ in Persian). His narrative is crossed the insightful comments of several male-to-female transsexuals in Iran – Donya, Handry, Leila and Shirin, who have to endure the daily scorn of society in their new roles as women.