Jelani secretly married a woman from a different tribe. They fled their country in order to avoid being killed. On foot – and every other way they could – they arrived at a river, months later. Some people die crossing it; others swim across it and enter Europe. But, once they set foot in the first European country, Greece, they found themselves and their children homeless and socially excluded, without being able to move on or go back. Their only solution is to enter Germany illegally, the smugglers say. But they have no money to pay for the whole family to travel. Jelani is faced with the dilemma: If one of the children leaves unaccompanied and arrives safe and sound in Germany, he or she can help the family obtain visas to enter that country. His children will learn in a violent way either how one finds their own planet or how one creates it from scratch; and whether Germany is really the solution or just a new nightmare.
In his film, Menelaos Karamaghiolis attempts to trace the evolution of the gypsy race in Europe, particularly in Greece, through four different points of view. These are expressed in the narrations of four people: the Teacher, the Photographer, Tamara, the old gypsy lady and the young girl Aima.
Menelaos Karamaggiolis (Μενέλαος Καραμαγγιώλης) is a director, producer and screenwriter. He has directed the short documentaries “Alpheus” (1985), “Hail Mary” (1986), “The Colossus of the Sun” (1987) as well as the award-winning feature-length documentaries in Greece and abroad: “Rom” (1989), which has been described as “the turning point of Greek documentary that everyone now admits constitutes a milestone in the history of Greek documentary”, and “a masterpiece that should remain a classic in the history of cinema” (Nicole Brenez, curator of the avant-garde film series of the French Film Archive [Cinémathèque française][2]) and “Elias Aegli” (1987), which continue and are screened to this day at international festivals. His feature films (fiction): “Black Out” (1998), which has been described as “the first genuine postmodern Greek film” and “J.A.C.E. - Just Another Confused Elephant” (2012) are international co-productions and have been screened in many countries and have won numerous awards at international film festivals (11 for J.A.C.E. and 7 for Black Out).
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