''I Even Met Happy Gypsies'' is a 1967 Yugoslav film by

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

n director Aleksandar Petrović. Its original

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...

title is ''Skupljači perja'', which means ''The Feather Gatherers''. The film is centered on

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic Itinerant groups in Europe, itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have Ro ...

's life in a village in northern

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

, but it also deals with subtler themes such as love, ethnic and social relationships. Beside Bekim Fehmiu, Olivera Vučo,

Bata Živojinović Velimir "Bata" Živojinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велимир "Бата" Живојиновић; 5 June 1933 – 22 May 2016) was a Yugoslav and Serbian actor and politician. He appeared in more than 340 films and TV series, and is regarded as one of ...

and

Mija Aleksić Milosav "Mija" Aleksić ( sr-cyr, Милосав "Мија" Алексић; 26 September 1923 – 12 March 1995) was a Serbian actor. Early life Aleksić was born in the Gornja Crnuća village within the municipality of Gornji Milanovac, King ...

, film features a cast of Romani actors speaking the

Romani language Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to '' Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their ...

. ''I Even Met Happy Gypsies'' is considered one of the best films of the Black Wave in Yugoslav cinema.

Plot

The protagonist, Beli Bora Perjar ( Bekim Fehmiu), is a charming but mean-spirited gypsy, while his former affair, the '' kafana'' singer Lenče ( Olivera Vučo), is submissive. Bora is in love with the younger Tisa ( Gordana Jovanović), who is being offered in marriage by her step-father. The two get themselves in trouble and eventually have to flee. Tisa rejects her husband and she and Bora get married in the church. Tisa tries to get to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

, while Bora stabs a man in a

knife fight A knife fight is a violent physical confrontation between two or more combatants in which one or more participants is armed with a knife.MacYoung, Marc, ''Winning A Street Knife Fight'', (Digital format, 70 min.), Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, (J ...

. They are both, therefore, exiled from their Romani camp, yet their adventures continue.

Cast

* Bekim Fehmiu as Beli Bora Perjar * Olivera Vučo as Lenče *

as Mirta * Gordana Jovanović as Tisa *

as Pavle Rest of cast listed alphabetically: * Severin Bijelić as Bigoted man * Stojan Dečermić as Hladnjača driver 1 * Milivoje Đorđević as Sandor * Rahela Ferari as Igumanija * Etelka Filipovski as Bora's wife * Milorad Jovanović as Toni * Zoran Longinović as Islednik 1 * Branislav-Ciga Milenković * Božidar Pavičević-Longa as Hladnjača driver 2 * Velizar Petrović * Djordje Pura as Islednik 2 * Nina Sajin * Milivoje Tomić as Romanian *

Janez Vrhovec Janez Vrhovec (19 January 1921 – 7 October 1997) was a Yugoslav actor of Slovenian-German origin. Vrhovec appeared in a number of Yugoslav and Serbian films, as well as many international productions, in a career spanning almost five decade ...

as judge

Reception

The film was the most popular film in Belgrade for the year with 400,000 admissions, compared to an average of 60,000.

Awards

At the

1967 Cannes Film Festival The 20th Cannes Film Festival was held from 27 April to 12 May 1967. The Grand Prix du Festival International du Film went to the '' Blowup'' by Michelangelo Antonioni. The festival opened with '' J'ai tué Raspoutine'', directed by Robert Hosse ...

it was nominated for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

and won the Special Grand Prize of the Jury and the

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

Prize. The film was nominated for the 1967

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

(event in April 1968) and for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

also won a Golden Arena award for Best Actor at the 1967

Pula Film Festival Pula Film Festival ( hr, Pulski filmski festival) is an annual Croatian film festival, established in 1954. It is held in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula Arena. Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival and is usually held ...

for his portrayal of Mirta.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1967 films Films directed by Aleksandar Petrović Serbo-Croatian-language films Serbian drama films Avala Film films Romani films Films set in Vojvodina Yugoslav drama films Films set in Yugoslavia Romani-language films Films shot in Serbia Films set in Belgrade Cannes Grand Prix winners Films about Romani people