Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends

Inside the world of top Romani performers, they transcend social isolation and community poverty through their music.

Film Signature Image
Series
PBS Plus Presentation
Premiere Date
April 1, 2008
Length
90 minutes
Funding Initiative
Open Call
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2006 Flanders International Film Festival-Audience Award
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2007 Jeonju International Film Festival-Audience Award
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2007 Nashville Independent Film Festival-Impact of Music Jury Award
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2007 San Francisco Independent Film Festival-Audience Award
  • Producer/Director

    Jasmine Dellal

    Jasmine Dellal grew up in England and spent much of her childhood with grandparents in a south Indian village. After studying French and Spanish at Oxford University, she made short films for her Masters at U.C. Berkeley and won a student Emmy for a profile of a homeless photographer. Dellal’s teacher and mentor in California was the acclaimed Marlon Riggs, Show more with whom she worked on his final feature Black Is ... Black Ain’t. In the early 1990s, Dellal stumbled on a book about “Gypsies” which ended up launching her on a decade of making films about Roma. Dellal directed, produced, wrote, and edited her first feature documentary, American Gypsy: a stranger in everybody’s land (which had an arthouse theatrical release; played dozens of festivals worldwide; won awards; and aired on P.O.V.. Dellal founded Little Dust Productions to make artistic films with a social conscience. Show less

    We fund untold stories for public media.

    Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.

    The Film

    Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends is a dazzling display of the musical world of the Roma juxtaposed to the real world they live in. Showing how Romani “outsider” artists transcend social isolation and community poverty through their music, the film explores the lives of top international Gypsy performers both onstage and off. Shot by documentary icon Albert Maysles, the film takes place on location in Spain, Macedonia, Romania, and India, as well as in Europe and in the U.S. during the Gypsy Caravan concert tour created by World Music Institute.

    Topics