JOŽKA
A film by HAMZE BYTYCI
Fallen ill after many years of working in mines, Jožka has devoted his life to the fight for a better, more just society and against constant discrimination of Roma people in the Czech Republic. The disrespect towards the Roma minority is represented by a large-capacity pig farm built on the site of the former concentration camp near Lety in South Bohemia in which hundreds of Roma lost their lives under the Nazi regime – including half of Jožka’s wife’s family.
Cinematography MILAN DURŇAK Producer VERONIKA PATOČKOVÁ Musik HERR VON UND ZU, aroma-records.com Editor MIRJA GERLE Sound Mixer ANDREAS FERTIG, VERONIKA PATOČKOVÁ Sound Design ANDREAS FERTIG Color Grading SERGI SÁNCHEZ RODRIGUEZ
Photo Gallery
AWARDS & SCREENINGS
November 10, 2017
Screening of JOŽKA at the FilmFestival Cottbus
with other "Oppose Othering!" films.
November 9, 2017
Screening of JOŽKA at the Evangelic Academy of Berlin as part of the film row "Self-portaits in focus -
Sinti and Roma in European Film"
October 1, 2017
Screening of JOŽKA at the NIHRFF in Nuremberg:
Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival
September 22, 2017
Screening of JOŽKA at the IHRFFA in Tirana:
International Human Rights Film Festival-Albania
July 10, 2017
JOŽKA is nominee of the festival Short to the Point
for June 2017!
June 7, 2017
JOŽKA is part of the Official Selection
of the Stockholm Independent Film Festival!
May 12, 2017
Screening of JOŽKA for a closed group of experts
on Roma genocide and the education about it at the conference "European Roma Identity in the 20th Centuries through the Lenses of the Holocaus Victims Documentation" in Prag.
May 1, 2017
World premiere of JOŽKA took place at the goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film at Caligari Filmbühne in Wiesbaden!
IN THE MEDIA
September 27, 2017
An article and interview with the film director Hamze Bytyci by the Czech magazine "Romano Voďi", published by romea.cz. In English language.
September 20, 2017
An article and interview with the film director Hamze Bytyci by the Czech magazine "Romano Voďi", published by romea.cz. In Czech language.
May 18, 2017
Feature in German language about JOŽKA by Radio Prague - with the protagonist Jozef Miker, the director Hamze Bytyci and the producer Veronika Patočková: listen here.
April 26, 2017
The director of the goEast - Festival of Middle and Eastern European Film Gaby Babić introduces in an interview with 3sat the new "Oppose Othering!" film. From 7:20 about JOŽKA. In German language.
NEWS ABOUT LETY
December 4, 2017
Czech owner of pig farm on Roma genocide site approves its handover to the state. Shareholders in the AGPI company, which owns the pig farm at Lety, have approved the handover of the grounds to the state at their general meeting today. The money from the state, EUR 17 616 642, should be received by the firm by the end of April 2018. More information at romea.cz.
November 23, 2017
Contract for Czech state to buy pig farm on Romani genocide site has been signed. The contract was signed between the Museum of Romani Culture director, Jana Horváthová, and the owner of the farm, represented by the vice-chair of the board of AGPI firm, Jan Čech. More information at romea.cz.
October 23, 2017
Czech state to pay roughly EUR 17,5 million to buy out pig farm on Roma genocide site. The purchase contract was published by the Czech Government on October 23. More information at romea.cz.
August 7, 2017
Czech company accepts state offer to buy pig farm on Roma genocide site. Vice-chair of the AGPI board Jan Čech told the Czech News Agency today that the company's idea of the price had been significantly higher than what they have now agreed. In his view the state was "very strict" during the negotiations. More information at romea.cz.
July 31, 2017
Czech firm agrees to sell pig farm on Romani genocide site: On its general meeting, AGPI agreed to transfer the pig farm at Lety to the Czech state. More information at romea.cz.
Testimonies
Rozhodl jsem se natočit film o Jožkovi hned v prvním okamžiku našeho setkání. Daří se mu kombinovat vážná témata jako osobní, tak romských komunit v České republice s radostí ze života takovým způsobem, na kterým se člověk stane skoro závislý. Nová generace Romů potřebuje hrdinu jako je Jožka.
Prasata na místě bývalého koncentračního tábora pro Romy! To je symbol nekončícího ponižování a diskriminace Romů, nejpronásledovanější menšiny v Evropě. Protagonista filmu Jožka bojuje za spravedlnost. My všichni bychom mu měli pomoci na jeho velmi těžké cestě.
Pigs in the place of a former concentration camp for Roma! That symbolizes well the still ongoing dehumiliation and discrimination of Roma people, the most persecuted community of Europe. The main protagonist, Jožka is fighting for justice. We should all help him on his very hard journey.
I have decided to shoot a film about Jožka in the first moment I met him. He manages to combine severe issues of his life and the life of Romani community in the Czech Republic with cheerfulness and light-heartedness in a way, which makes you addicted to him. The new generation of Roma needs a hero like him.
Team
JOŽKA is a production of RomaTrial – Transcultural self-organization of Roma and non-Roma. It’s part of OPPOSE OTHERING! – a project of Deutsches Filminstitut / goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film with financial support of Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ (EVZ). Co-funded by the Czech-German Future Fund. JOŽKA is supported by the Alliance for Solidarity with European Sinti and Roma. Further partners are Antikomplex, Konexe and filmArche.