Gypsy

Colour, 35 mm
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2011, 107 min
WP – World premiere
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

For 14-year-old Adam, the world of his poor Romany village has only two joys: boxing and Julka, a friend his same age. But after the violent death of his father, the boy experiences life’s harsher side: his mother remarries and his stepfather demands obedience without seeking to deserve Adam’s respect. Gradually everything the boy was attached to starts to fall apart around him, and if his dead father hadn’t visited him he wouldn’t even know which path to take. The inexperience of youth, loneliness, and impulsiveness prevent him from using reason and cool consideration to face the obstacles in his way, and he even sometimes provokes those who stand by him. And thus he finds himself in a situation for which there is only one solution.

About the director

Martin Šulík (b. 1962, Žilina, Slovakia) graduated in film and television direction from VŠMU (1986). In 1986-91 he worked as assistant director on short films, occasionally directed for the theater, acted in movies, and shot documentaries. Since the early 1990s he has mainly focused on features, distinguishing himself for his poetic-symbolic tone, nostalgic atmosphere, existential dimension, and episodic structure. Filmography: Tenderness (1991), Everything I like (1992), The Garden (1995 – Special Jury Prize at KVIFF 1995), Orbis Pictus (1997), a segment from the story showcase Prague Stories... (1999), Landscape (2000), the docudrama on director Pavel Juráček The Key for Determining Dwarfs or The Last Travel of Lemuel Gulliver (2002), The City of the Sun (2005, screened in competition at KVIFF), and Gypsy (2011).