My Name is Rom
Three stories of women
The documentary aims to address the issues of discrimination, identity and emancipation starting from the point of view of some young Roma activists. Men and women who live in different countries and situations, but all animated by the desire to integrate and overcome stereotypes that prevent recognition of the human rights of this people.
Direction
Piero D’Onofrio
Subject and screenplay
Natasha Palmieri
Executive Producer
Barbara Meleleo
Photography
Antonello Sarao
Sandro Bartolozzi
Editing
Matteo Ridolfi
Filming and live sound
Enrico Montagna
Alexandru Miron
Giorgio Russo
Sound design
Riccardo Cimino
Original Soundtrack
Ala Bianca
Production
Clipper Media
with the collaboration of
Centrul de Resurse pentru Educatie
Fakali – Federacion Andaluza de Mujeres Gitanas
Fondazione Romanì Italia.
Marinela, a 20-year-old Romanian Roma who grew up in Italy, has long denied her ethnicity after suffering discrimination. The return to Romania, for the wedding of her cousin, becomes for her an occasion for deeper research from which she emerges strengthened.
It is here that she meets Izabela, a very young Roma who, together with her father, is engaged in recovering the testimonies of survivors of the tragic event of the deportations to the region of Transnistria. While reconstructing the history of her people, Izabela is committed to rural communities to promote the school education of women.
Marinela and Izabela then started a friendship based on the sharing of values and dreams that leads them to Spain, where the cultural emancipation of gypsies, especially women, has favored the birth of an enterprising and effective associationism. Here, Tamara and other activists involve Marinela and Izabela in the activities they carry out every day for social integration and respect for diversity.
The documentary is a journey into the memory and identity of the Roma people, but also into their desire for redemption from the persecutions they suffered, through the eyes and stories of the three young protagonists. They allow us to glimpse a possible path to emancipation of the largest minority ethnicity of Europe.
Made within the European project Conflicts, mass media and rights: an awareness campaign on Roma identity and culture, coordinated by the NGO Research and Cooperation and co-financed by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Program of the European Union.