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Outreach Journal I: Caravan

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Posted on July 6 2004 in by austra

Outreach Journal I: Caravan

Published on July 6, 2004

by Lucy Kaye

Little Dust Productions is in the final post-production stages of a music documentary directed by Jasmine Dellal about the “Gypsy Caravan” concert tour. Shot over a period of 18 months in more than six countries, Caravan (working title) is a feature documentary that uses music as a window to look beyond stereotypes about Romani (Gypsy) people.

Caravan introduces audiences to Romani culture through stirring music and performance.

Caravan features five groups of top Romani musicians touring North America together and juxtaposes their dazzling performances with the stark reality of their homes in Macedonia, Romania, Spain and India. The film challenges commonly held romantic or criminal “Gypsy” stereotypes and helps put a face on a people that have been shunned and misunderstood for centuries.

OUTREACH GOALS & CHALLENGES

There are approximately one million Romani people in the USA who are virtually unknown to the American public as an ethnic group — they are simply known as “Gypsies.” These communities suffer greatly from social and cultural isolation because of the prejudice against them and their own protective response to this prejudice. Therefore, one of the main challenges for this project has been finding a way to work with communities that are not only unknown to the majority of Americans, but who are also reluctant to be known for fear of discrimination.

In contrast to other minority populations, there are very few initiatives addressing Romani issues in the United States. There are many possible reasons for this: a lack of knowledge and interest in the welfare of Gypsy communities, internal divisions within the communities themselves, a high level of illiteracy, and, for many Romani people, a lack of confidence in the belief that they are entitled to the same civil rights as everyone else. Therefore, the main goal of our outreach for Caravan is to build bridges between Romani and Gadjé (non-Roma) communities.

GETTING STARTED

The film’s director, Jasmine Dellal, had already developed a close relationship with Romani communities through her previous documentary, AMERICAN GYPSY: A Stranger in Everybody’s Land (aired on PBS’ P.O.V. in 2000). The friends and contacts she made during this earlier film enabled her to secure Romani crew and translators in the production of Caravan.

Before I joined Little Dust to work on outreach for Caravan, I had been an activist with Romani and Traveller families in the UK — with my grassroots background and Jasmine’s experience producing American Gypsy, we were both sensitive to Romani issues and had a clear vision of our outreach goals with Caravan.

Little Dust Productions included Roma in all stages of production of the film.

The next important step was to ensure that our envisioned outreach goals were in keeping with what the Roma communities themselves actually want. So we held a brainstorming session, inviting members of Romani communities, civil rights activists, educators and journalists to attend. The feedback proved invaluable.

ROMA SCREENINGS

Of particular note, the group confirmed the importance of having a Romani person at screenings to create a safe and comfortable environment for Roma in attendence. This individual could also serve as a discussion facilitator on topics such as: education, stereotypes, history and the Romani community’s contemporary challenges. We also determined that a Web discussion board should be created through which screening audiences can continue their discussions and interactions.

Another suggestion was to hold screenings in space where the community feels comfortable. One idea was to collaborate with local churches that Roma already attend, and to have Romani women cater these events.

EDUCATING AMERICAN YOUTH

The rough-cut viewers also emphasized the importance of using the film to sensitize young Americans to Romani culture. Therefore, we plan to organize screenings in collaboration with schools, colleges, universities, libraries and community youth centers. One idea that we hope to implement, in collaboration with an organization such as Downtown Community Television, is to hold youth video workshops for Romani and non-Romani teenagers to make videos about their experiences together.

Esma is one of the many amazing performers who contribute to the vitality of Caravan. Photo by Alain de Halleux.

CHANGING POLICY

Another goal we established was that the film should be used to raise public interest on Romani issues and that this awareness should be chanelled into action.

One ideas is to distribute action postcards at screenings. Audience members will be asked to mail a pre-addressed postcard to a policy-maker on a specific Rom-related issue (e.g. postcards to the UNHCR requesting improved treatment of Romani residents of refugee camps). Handouts would also be distributed to educate audiences on the issues behind each postcard campaign.

FUNDING

Caravan has been funded in part by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), which positions it for a nationwide public television broadcast. It has also been picked up by an international sales agent with a good record for worldwide theatrical and television sales. Now our main concern is to secure further funding for our outreach efforts.

One of the most useful resources I have found while doing research for funding for this project has been The Foundation Center in New York. The center has an online catalogue of all grant giving and philanthropic organizations in the US and regularly holds free or inexpensive courses on all aspects of fundraising. One of the most interesting and useful facts I learned while visiting their library is that out of 70,000 grant-giving organizations only about 3,500 have Web sites. So it’s well worth the time to pay a visit to their library and scan through their resource directories and CD-ROMs.

From our grant-writing experience, it seems that the more focused the grant is, the higher the chance it has of success. It is best to focus each application on one aspect of your outreach plan, rather than to apply for funding for the whole project at once.

We are happy to say that Little Dust Productions, along with Eli Films and the Romani American Alliance have recently received funding from MCAF/LMCC and NYCH for a Romani Roundtable Film outreach event scheduled for early 2005. At this event we will screen Caravan and a film by a first-time Romani filmmaker and then host a roundtable discussion with the filmmakers, Romani activists and scholars. Our hope is that this screening and discussion will raise awareness about representations of Romani people and address their marginalization, systemic discrimination and exclusion in American society.

LATEST NEWS

We are still in the process of securing funding for the rest of the outreach plan. We are waiting for responses to several applications and letters of inquiry. We are also planning to collaborate with other organizations to apply for joint grants, as we did for the roundtable event. We are exploring the possibility of approaching individual donors and celebrities affiliated with the Romani community to assist us in promoting the project’s goals.

Jasmine Dellal and George Eli lead a discussion at a rough-cut screening of Caravan. Photo by Chris Gwyn

Excerpts from our rough-cut were recently screened at the “Reel Rhythms World Music Film Festival” in New York, held in conjunction with the World Music Institute. This was a unique opportunity for us to gain valuable feedback on our outreach plans as well as on the structure of the film itself. It was nice to actively involve the audience in the film’s progress.

Following the screening, we held a Q&A session between the Director Jasmine Dellal, George Eli, a Romani filmmaker, and the audience. It was fantastic to hear and see people’s reactions to what they saw in the footage and to initiate discussions between the Roma and non-Roma viewers. We handed out Romani resource sheets and evaluation forms that asked, among other things, how people feel the film can help Romani communities. The numerous responses revealed the audience’s emotional reactions to the rough-cut and included interesting ideas for future outreach events.
Keep visiting MediaRights to learn more about our outreach efforts.