This day is celebrated every 5 November to call for the recognition and revindication of the language of the Roma people.
A special screening of Romani cinema and colloquium to vindicate the recognition of the Romani language on 4 November, at the Filmoteca de Catalunya.
To commemorate the day, the Barcelona City Council and the bodies of the Municipal Council of the Roma People of Barcelona have organised an activity, in collaboration with the Filmoteca de Catalunya, with the goal of recognising and revindicating the language of the Roma people.
The film Flames of God, by Meshakai Wolf, 2011, will be screened at the Filmoteca de Catalunya on Saturday 4 November at 8 p.m., followed by a talk on the current state of the Romani language in the world of cinema.
The event will be attended by the Commissioner for Citizen Relations and Cultural and Religious Diversity of Barcelona City Council, Sara Belbeida, the First Vice-President of the Municipal Council of the Roma People of Barcelona, Francisco Vargas, and the Educational Services Technician of the Filmoteca de Catalunya, Júlia Betrian.
Programme
8.00 p.m. Welcome and presentation by Sara Belbeida, Commissioner for Citizen Relations and Cultural and Religious Diversity of the Barcelona City Council, Francisco Vargas, First Vice-President of the Municipal Council of the Roma People of Barcelona and Júlia Betrian, from Educational Services of the Filmoteca de Catalunya.
8.15 p.m. Screening of the film Flames of God by Meshakai Wolf, 2011.
9.30 pm Colloquium “La llengua romaní al món del cinema” [The Romani language in the world of cinema]..
With Pierre Chopinaud, French writer, political organiser and translator of Romani literature. In addition to co-directing the French NGO Voix des Rroms and participating in the creation of the international movement “Roma Resistance”, he created and founded an organisation called Conatus.
Along with Sami Mustafa, director, producer and writer of independent documentaries. Founder of Romawood, artistic director of the Rolling Film Festival and member of the International Romani Film Commission.
Moderated by Enérida Isuf, lawyer and Roma activist, migrant and Muslim.
10.15 p.m. Questions and answers.
10.30 p.m. Close
Free activity. Tickets only at the Filmoteca box office.
Flames of God
MESHAKAI WOLF, 2011. North Macedonia (USA). Original version with subtitles in Catalan. 73 minutes Digital archive.
At the invitation of the International Poetry Biennial, Muzafer Bislim, a poet and singer-songwriter from the Roma community of Shutka (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), travels to Paris in the hope of selling his life’s work: a handwritten dictionary of 25,000 words containing some of the oldest and least known words in the Romani language. But when the authenticity of the words is called into question, Bislim is forced to confront the painful prospect of returning to his family empty-handed. The journey tests Bislim’s determination, as he meets up with old friends who have managed to escape the hardships of Shutka and are enjoying the allure of Paris. Flames of God is a story of language and identity on the fringes of Western civilisation, which depicts one man’s vision of a united and literate gypsy population.
5 November. World Day of the Romani Language
On 3 November 2015, during the UNESCO General Conference, 5 November was proclaimed the World Day of Romani Language.
This major development was the result of the common demand, consensus and desire for cultural justice that emerged as part of a joint declaration issued during a world congress organised in Zagreb on 5 November 2009 by Kali Sara and the International Roma Union.
The declaration of 5 November as the World Day of Romani Language protects part of humanity’s linguistic heritage, the Romani language and its richness of dialects.
Romani čhib is an Indo-European language that traces its origins to Sanskrit. It is currently believed that around 14 million people speak the language across the five continents.