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🇫🇷 France /Culture & Society

Tony Gatlif, director of Gadjo Dilo, dies at 77

From Le Figaro · () French

Translated from French and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Outcome reported
  • French filmmaker Tony Gatlif, known for Gadjo Dilo and other films centered on Roma culture and exile, has died at 77, his family told AFP.
  • Born in Algiers in 1948, Gatlif drew on his Kabyle and Roma heritage and his childhood departure from Algeria in his filmmaking.
  • He won Cannes’ Best Director award in 2004 for Exils and released his final feature, Ange, in 2025.

Tony Gatlif, the filmmaker who turned Roma music, freedom and exile into exuberant cinema, has died at 77, his family announced to AFP on Friday morning.

Born in Algiers in 1948 to a Kabyle father and a Roma mother, Gatlif left Algeria at the age of 12. The memory stayed with him. He recalled “the chaos of the port that I saw without understanding: the entire pieds-noirs population leaving Algeria.” That image of departure would haunt his cinema.

Gatlif became known as a joyful and disorderly painter of the Roma world and of exile. His films, including Latcho Drom, Gadjo Dilo, Geronimo and Tom Medina, often took the form of quests or wandering journeys, driven by music and a fierce sense of freedom. They could be exuberant, uneven and unrestrained.

He also addressed darker history. In Liberté, released in 2009, he portrayed the Roma genocide. Earlier, he had attracted attention at the Cannes Film Festival, where he won the Best Director prize in 2004 for Exils.

His last feature, Ange, came out in 2025. Le Figaro described the film as full of flashes of inspiration and sharp-edged maxims, while recognizing the raw, intense scent of freedom that marked Gatlif’s work.

The chaos of the port that I saw without understanding: the entire pieds-noirs population leaving Algeria.

· Tony GatlifHe recalled leaving Algeria at the age of 12, an experience that influenced his filmmaking.
About this summary

Originally published by Le Figaro in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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