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Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends

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by DFG
Released last week at the ICA, Gypsy Caravan is a dazzling documentary celebrating the musical world of the Roma, showcasing the work of top international Gypsy performers and interweaving tales of their home life and history. Filmed, sometimes by documentary icon Albert Maysles, in Spain, Macedonia, Romania and India, with footage from the Gypsy Caravan Tour of Europe and America.

DFG met up with the film's director, Jasmine Dellal, the day before the film's release in her native Notting Hill.

DFG: What was your original idea for the film and how did it all come about?

JD: Idea wise, I made a film before called American Gypsy and when I finished that I thought: “I’ve done the gypsy thing now I’m sure my next film will be totally different”. But then I was invited to do just a couple of days filming of a Gypsy concert, and it was just so truly amazing that it really encouraged me [to make another film about Gypsies]. Maybe it’s about casting… In my first film, I had told the story of a family and through them I wanted people to think a lot, or get tricked into learning more, about Roma and Gypsies. And when I came across this concert, it struck me that it was absolutely fantastic music but I also realised that casting-wise, this concert was the perfect vehicle for the message I wanted to get across. The message is really idiotically simple, it’s just: ‘Gypsy people are real people – have an open mind’, and I suppose for Romany viewers it's, ‘Roma deserve to be proud of who they are’. So both of them are very simple messages. But the important thing was… I didn’t just want to make an activist film. When I came across the concert and the musicians it appeared to be a fantastic way to do it – because the music is absolutely stunning and musicians are wowed by it, as are normal people like me. The fact it was a concert tour is interesting and it adds a kind of narrative to it, which a good story/film needs. Also I thought the people in the film could really reveal the contrast between the stereotyped view of Gypsies and the reality of what it is like to be Romany in many different countries all around the world.

DFG: How did Albert Maysles get involved in the film?

JD: I was at a film festival in Taiwan and I mentioned the film to him. I’d actually met him before, not as a ‘buddy’, but as someone who I had listened to talking about his career and so on…But when I told him about the idea for the film, he sort of grabbed my arm and said: “I must shoot it for you!”, and I said “Al, you’re amazing and I’m flattered but you’re Albert Maysles and I’m – who!? Plus, I doubt I’ll ever have the budget”. But he just said “No, no, no that’s not our first concern, our first concern is that the film has to be made and I have to shoot it”.
DFG: The film was quite a long time in the making wasn’t it?

JD: Yes, it took several years. There was a lot of preparation for the first tour and at that point we were shooting with no money, or just using credit cards in fact. It was really nerve racking, especially because I was adamant that the concerts had to be shot in film which is expensive. Plus, I’d never actually shot using film so I was constantly having to call more experienced friends and ask – “what do I do now?” Luckily I hired a really good line producer at that point who really helped me out with the technical side of things.

DFG: So the technical side of shooting the film was actually a bit of a learning curve for you?

JD: Absolutely, I mean I’ve made films before, but I’d never actually shot in film before. The good thing was that I was able to surround myself with people more experienced than me. The classic moment was when we were about to shoot one of the concerts and I found myself in this concert hall with Albert Maysles and John Elkes who is a fantastic camera man and has made loads of series in America – he’s just a real artist who has been around forever and had actually been one of my teachers. And they both very accomplished but also humble, so they weren’t telling me what to do but just asking me what I wanted as I was the director. For a whole five minutes I kept this up but then I just had to say ‘you guys having been filming concerts longer than I’ve been alive!’ So I was lucky to be able to surround myself with people who really knew what they were doing.

DFG: What was the most challenging part of the entire project? The logistics of production? The post-production?

JD: The logisitics of the production weren’t the most tricky part because all of that is quite black and white. Either people are around to shoot or they aren’t, or either you can get flights you can afford or not etc etc. It’s very complex but there’s no grey areas. The tricky part was afterwards, I think we had approximately 200 hours of film, so doing the editing was much more tricky. Plus, the issue that I hadn’t thought about so much was how do you translate a film that has been shot in 9 different languages? I mean you can’t translate the whole 200 minutes. So that was very difficult. I think I learned that I won’t start another film unless I know who is editing it. With fiction you have a script and that’s nebulous but I think with documentary the nebulous part is post-production.

DFG: The film focuses on key characters; did you always have those individuals in mind?

JD: I started off filming everyone. I kind of knew that I wasn’t going to be able to focus on everyone on the film. There were some obvious people I knew I would focus on but it was a question of half way through the tour thinking who I have a filmed? What more do I need? So it was partly during the shooting, stopping and thinking – ‘how would I edit it if I had to now?’ and it was partly during editing that I made decisions.
Dir Jasmine Dellal, USA/Netherlands 2006, 110 mins

Gypsy Caravan is showing at the ICA in London until 21st October 2007.

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