''Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven'' (, lit. "The Gypsy camp goes to heaven"; also known as ''Queen of the Gypsies'') is a 1975

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

romantic

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film by

Emil Loteanu Emil Loteanu (6 November 1936 – 18 April 2003) was a Moldovan and Soviet film director born in what is now Republic of Moldova. He moved to Bucharest and Moscow in his early life. His best known films are '' Lăutarii'', '' Gypsies Are Found Ne ...

, loosely based on short stories " Makar Chudra" and " Old Izergil" by

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

. Set in early 20th century

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, the film tells a love story between the

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

girl Rada (

Svetlana Toma Svetlana Andreevna Toma (, born Svetlana Andreevna Fomichyova (; born 24 May 1947) is a Moldovan-Russian and Soviet actress. She debuted at the Moldova-Film studio in 1966. She worked in the Soviet Union. She is the mother of the actress Irina La ...

) and the horse thief Loiko Zobar ( Grigore Grigoriu). It was the most attended movie in the Soviet Union in 1976, with 64.9 million tickets sold.

Plot

The film takes place in the beginning of the 20th century in a

camp on the

Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...

river in the Zakarpattia region on the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Loiko Zobar is a horse thief who is injured and chased off into the woods while attempting to steal horses from the army. He is found by Rada, who heals his gunshot wound before disappearing. They meet again when Zobar encounters Bucha, a man who lives at the same encampment as Rada, at the market and the two return to her camp. He realizes she is the same woman who healed him, and resolves to impress her. Antol Siladi, a landowner and nobleman, also falls in love with Rada after meeting her in the city. He asks Rada's father to buy her, but he refuses. Rada then rejects him in full view of her camp, and he curses her. Zobar steals a white mare to give to Rada, leading to attempts on his arrest from authorities. While hiding, he gets his affairs in order by sending his friend Talimin to collect a debt from the house of Balint. Balint refuses to pay for the horses he was given, and orders his servant to kill Talimin in the stables. When soldiers raid Zobar's encampment, his younger sister Rusalina makes resistance attempts. Zobar's father finally agrees to give them his location after they threaten to kill the community's horses. Zobar is caught and sentenced to death by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

. He escapes with the help of Bubulya, who is killed in the conflict. After burying him, Zobar catches up with Rada's camp and presents the mare to her. The two bond on the river bank, and Rada tells him that in the morning they should wed. When he wakes up, Zobar discovers that the camp, including Rada, had moved on without him. He finds them with the help of a Romani medicine woman who stayed behind, and he publicly asks Rada for her hand in marriage. She whips his legs and turns him down, saying that he must kneel for her. He refuses, demanding she give him her hand first, and when she does not comply he becomes enraged and stabs her in the chest, killing her. Rada's father, having witnessed the exchange, kills Zobar in revenge by stabbing him in the back.

Cast

as Rada * Grigore Grigoriu as Loiko Zobar * Barasbi Mulayev as Makar Chudra, gypsy blacksmith * Mikhail Shishkov as Nur, elder of the gypsy tabor *

Boryslav Brondukov Boryslav Mykolayovych Brondukov (; ; 1 March 1938 – 10 March 2004) was a Ukrainian film character actor, People's Artist of Ukraine.

as Bucha * Vsevolod Gavrilov as Danilo, Rada's father * Ion Sandri Scurea as Antol Siladi, landowner, nobleman, in love with Rada * Nelli Volshaninova as Rusalina, Loiko's sister * Pavel Andreychenko as Talimon *

Vasyl Symchych Vasyl Ilich Symchych () (January 8, 1915 – March 1, 1978) was a Ukrainian actor. Vasyl Symchych was born in Seredniy Bereziv, Kolomyya powiat, Austro-Hungary (today Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast). Partial filmography *1955: ''Ivan Franko'' ( ...

as Balint, landowner, murderer of Talimon * Sergiu Finiti as Bubulya, Loiko's friend * Nikolai Volshaninov as Aralambi * Lyalya Chyornaya as Old Gypsy Woman *

Maria Kapnist Maria Rostyslavivna Kapnist (), née Marietta Rostyslavivna Kapnist-Sirko (9 (22) March 1913, St. Petersburg – 25 October 1993, Kyiv) was a Ukrainian actress, and an Merited Artist of Ukraine, Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1988). During ...

as Izergil

Production

Traditional Romani songs such as "Malyarkitsa", "Dyves and Rat", "Loli Phabay (The Red Apple)", and "Nane Tsoha" were chosen by composer Eugene Doga and covered for the film by Roma theater performers from the

Romen Theatre Romen Theatre () in Moscow, Russia, is the oldest and the most famous of Romani theatres in the world. The theatre is a key object of Romani culture in Russia, and from the moment of its foundation in 1931, it has been a centre of attraction for ...

. Many characters in the film were played by actors from Romen, the Moldavian film studio, or

Lithuanian Film Studios Lithuanian Film Studio () is a Lithuanian film production company based in Vilnius and founded in 1940 on the basis of the earlier private film companies. In 1948, the Vilnius Documentary Film Studio was founded. In 1970–80, the company produ ...

due to significant filming in the cities of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

Awards

1976 — the main prize "

Golden Shell The Golden Shell (; ) is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. It was introduced in 1957. In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 1955 and 1956 it was replace ...

" of the XXIV International Film Festival in San Sebastian (Spain). 1976 —

was named the "Best Actress of 1976" according to the results of a survey of readers of the magazine "

Soviet Screen ''Soviet Screen'' () was an illustrated magazine published in the USSR with varying frequency from 1925 to 1998 (with a break from 1941–1957Fifty years from the date of the first issue of Soviet Screen — 1975. — P. 18-19.) The magazine co ...

" (

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

). 1977 — Audience jury prize "For Best Director" to

at the VII International Film Festival of the best films of the world "Fest" in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

(

SFRY The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

). 1977 — diploma for the best film of the International Film Festival in Prague ( CSR). 1977 — the prize "For the best performance of a female role" to actress Svetlana Tome at the XV International Film Festival in Panama (

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

). XV International Film Festival in Panama. 1977 — 1-st degree diploma at the II All—Union Competition for the best use of domestic negative color films when shooting feature films (USSR). XV International Film Festival in Panama. 1978 — prize for the best quality of photography at the International Technical Film Competition of the XI UNIATEC Congress in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

External links

* *Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven : Awards a
https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000588/1976/Emil Loteanu : Awards at https://www.kinopoisk.ru/name/176216/awards/
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References

External links

* {{Golden Shell 1975 films 1975 romantic drama films 1970s romantic musical films 1970s musical drama films Soviet musical drama films Soviet romantic drama films Mosfilm films 1970s Soviet films 1970s Russian-language films Russian-language romantic musical films Russian-language romantic drama films Russian-language musical drama films Films about Romani people Films based on works by Maxim Gorky Films directed by Emil Loteanu 1975 musical films