This drama about a young Romani man named Hamlet is based on William Shakespeare's famous play. Formally, however, it bears reminiscences of the Yugoslavian 'black wave movement' from the sixties with its realistic and poetic films about Roma.
The plot takes place on a city garbage dump, and its characters are Roma who live in a colony near Belgrade. Two conflicting gangs, Orthodox and Muslim, fight over the control of the distribution of garbage. They live in present-day Serbia. The winter is harsh, Shakespeare’s castles are dilapidated 'houses' built in a night. This drama shows the evil in people, their intolerance and their cheating. After his brother's death, Jova marries his late brother's wife Yelena (Hamlet's mother) and takes over a gang controlling the trade on the dump. The ghost of Hamlet's father wanders about on the dump seeking revenge. Hamlet discovers that his uncle murdered his father and finds himself in the centre of a tragedy nobody will survive.
Except for two professional actors all the characters are played by Roma, many of them acting for the first time - and speaking their own language, always exceptional in films about Roma. This film can be seen as an epilogue to the IFFR 2004 programme Once We Were Birds: Romani Cinema. (LC)

Director
Aleksandar Rajkovic
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Serbia
Year
2007
Festival Edition
IFFR 2007
Length
105'
Medium
35mm
Language
Roma
Producer
Dragan Asanin
Production Company
ADT Group
Sales
ADT Group
Screenplay
Aleksandar Rajkovic, Dusica Zegarac, Ana Maria Jermoluk
Cinematography
Milad Tauk
Music
Dragan Kresic
Cast
Petar Bozovic, Igor Djordjevic
Director
Aleksandar Rajkovic
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Serbia
Year
2007
Festival Edition
IFFR 2007
Length
105'
Medium
35mm
Language
Roma
Producer
Dragan Asanin
Production Company
ADT Group
Sales
ADT Group
Screenplay
Aleksandar Rajkovic, Dusica Zegarac, Ana Maria Jermoluk
Cinematography
Milad Tauk
Music
Dragan Kresic
Cast
Petar Bozovic, Igor Djordjevic