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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

Tony Gatlif, director of ‘The Crazy Stranger,’ dies at 77

From ABC Color · () Spanish

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

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Outcome reported
  • French filmmaker Tony Gatlif died at 77 in Arles while working on a historical film, his family said.
  • Gatlif directed about 20 films and won the 2004 Cannes award for best director for “Exils.”
  • His work focused on Roma history, music, exile and marginalized communities, including in “The Crazy Stranger” and “Korkoro.”

Tony Gatlif, the filmmaker who brought Roma music, history and lives on the margins to international cinema, has died at 77. His family said he suffered a health problem on Wednesday in Arles, southern France, while working on a historical film.

Gatlif directed around 20 films and became widely known for “The Crazy Stranger,” his 1997 film about a young Frenchman traveling through Romania in search of a Roma singer. Starring Romain Duris and Romanian actress Rona Hartner, the film made music and Roma culture central to its story.

lived on the margins

· Tony GatlifGatlif used the phrase to describe the communities and characters central to his filmography.

His films repeatedly returned to the history and living conditions of Roma communities. “Vengo,” a Spanish, French, German and Japanese co-production filmed in Andalusia, featured Antonio Canales and Antonio Dechent and earned the César for best original music. In 2009, “Korkoro” addressed the genocide of Roma people during World War II.

Tony Gatlif had a taste for back roads, borders that disappear and lives that receive very little attention.

· Catherine PégardFrance’s culture minister paid tribute to the director’s artistic focus.

Gatlif won Cannes’ best director award in 2004 for “Exils,” which follows two young French people of Algerian origin on a journey to Algeria. His final film, “Ange,” starring Arthur H., María de Medeiros and Mathieu Amalric, was released in 2025.

Born Michel Dahmani in Algiers in 1948 to a Kabyle father and Roma mother, Gatlif arrived in France in 1962. He began as an actor before moving behind the camera. French Culture Minister Catherine Pégard described his cinema as driven by “music, movement, exile and freedom.”

He filmed music, movement, exile and freedom with an energy that belonged only to him.

· Catherine PégardPégard described the distinctive qualities of Gatlif’s work.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. 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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