Ruzové sny AKA Rosy Dreams (Dusan Hanák, 1977)

Jakub, a dreamer and budding magician, juggles between parcels and services rendered to the villagers. His eyes cross that of the beautiful gypsy Jolanka. Together, they will try to live a first and big love, despite the pressure of their respective communities. Dušan Hanák’s Rosy Dreams is significant in Central European cinema because it deals with a minority group that is unable to integrate into Czechoslovak society. Issues such as race and racial conflict could not be addressed under communism in 1976 because of the myth of collective community enforced by the communist authorities. Even though the communists refused to acknowledge it in public, the Roma (gypsies) were on the fringe of society. Filmed partly on location in a Roma shantytown, this was the first Central European film that attempted to show the Roma in a realistic manner.