Frédéric Fichefet

Since the recent death of Nicolae Neacsu, star violinist of the Taraf de Haïdouks, things have taken a turn for the worse in Clejani, a village in the south of Romania. Young musicians without work chase away their depression with drugs and dreams of the West. Marius grabs his accordion and plays some gypsy blues to charm the moneylenders who demand their due, to seduce a beautiful chick or maybe even attract Johnny Depp who, it seems, promised to be godfather to his youngest child. Won, stolen, borrowed or exchanged, money is the only way to thwart the fate that dogs this small gypsy community. Clejani is a chasm at the end of a road. Some are willing to do anything to get away.

In Clejani, a village in Wallachia (south of Bucharest), two or three elderly Roma musicians are the last custodians of traditional village music. With them will disappear ballads and ancestral stories: tales of the haidouks, the outlaw-heroes of medieval Romania, initiation stories, and love songs.

Since the recent death of Nicolae Neacsu, star violinist of the Taraf de Haïdouks, things have taken a turn for the worse in Clejani, a village in the south of Romania. Young musicians without work chase away their depression with drugs and dreams of the West. Marius grabs his accordion and plays some gypsy blues to charm the moneylenders who demand their due, to seduce a beautiful chick or maybe even attract Johnny Depp who, it seems, promised to be godfather to his youngest child. Won, stolen, borrowed or exchanged, money is the only way to thwart the fate that dogs this small gypsy community. Clejani is a chasm at the end of a road. Some are willing to do anything to get away.

In Clejani, a village in Wallachia (south of Bucharest), two or three elderly Roma musicians are the last custodians of traditional village music. With them will disappear ballads and ancestral stories: tales of the haidouks, the outlaw-heroes of medieval Romania, initiation stories, and love songs.