‘Roma Boys’ docudrama premieres in UK
Today marks the UK premiere of an award-winning Czech film on the dual prejudices faced by LGBT Roma from both outside and within their own community and families.
As part of the Community Channel’s season celebrating Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities in the UK, ‘Roma Boys’ will be shown on UK media for the first time.
The film follows David, a Prague university student and Roma Rights activist, who meets online and falls in love with Marek, a young Roma man living in the country.
When a Roma Rights rally takes David near Marek’s home town, they finally arrange to meet in person. Excited, Marek decides to come out to his family, but the violent reaction from his father and uncles was not what he hoped for. Faced with threats from his own family, he needs to decide whether to stay true to his sexuality or his family’s perception of tradition and community values.
The film was awarded Best Czech Film at Fresh Film Fest and Best Documentary Film at Famu Fest.
The film will likely deal with the topic of young men who face the dual prejudice that comes with identifying as gay and Gypsy more sensitively than Channel 4’s ‘Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’, which was accused of outing a teenager in 2012 through footage of him kissing another man – which he said he had asked not to be used
Roma Boys premieres on the Community Channel tonight at 9pm.
