A 13-year-old girl chooses curiosity over prejudice — and Europe's most hated people teach her everything.
Even in Poland today, Gypsies are viewed with profound suspicion — not that things are that much better for them anywhere else in Europe. In this coming-of-age drama, Mala, an ordinary Polish girl who is about thirteen years old, is just beginning to wake up to the world around her. When she hears the adults of the village making disparaging remarks about Gypsies, that's exactly what it takes to motivate her to go out and visit them. She has a rich and rewarding encounter, until the authorities come into their camp to drive them off. No one is harmed, and Mala's life has been changed for the better by her adventures.
Direction
Kędzierzawska frames Roma camps with unflinching empathy.
Acting
Non-professional Roma children outshine trained cast.
Cinematography
Bleached Eastern European light that refuses to romanticize.
Director
Dorota Kędzierzawska
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during Poland's final communist years, when Roma were officially 'itinerant workers' — erasing ethnic identity that the film quietly restores.
Kędzierzawska smuggled Roma children from a real settlement into casting; their families appear in background authenticity no production design could fake.
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