How I Became a Partisan

synopsis

A Roma partisan. An association that has been pushed to the outer edge of historical memory provides the starting coordinates for the director’s mission of emancipation. A web of themes and motifs emerges from a journey back through memories of her great-grandfather Ján Lacko. The revived stories of Roma partisans from the Slovak resistance movement are extricated and woven into a discourse on Roma identity, the roots of European racism, and disappearing traces of cultural and collective memory. Vera Lacková’s partisan battle remedies the collective consciousness in her native village as well as at the celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. Empathetic moments in this “film resistance movement against oblivion” alternate with unexpected moments of ethnic humor and moral tragedy.


“I often encounter situations when even Roma are seeking their identity. When my nephew was born, the neighbors looked into the baby carriage and said: ‘How nice and white.’” (Vera Lacková)

 

Interview with Vera Lacková a Jan Bodnár:

 

biography

Vera Lacková (1989) was born in Handlov, studied mass media communications in Brno, and now lives and works in Vienna. She started to focus on Roma issues and collective memory during the project Europe: Homeland for the Roma. In 2018, she started working on her film debut as well as a producer in her own company – Media Voice. She actively collaborates with a number of European Roma organizations.

more about film

director:	Vera Lacková
producer:	Jan Bodnár, Vera Lacková
script:	Vera Lacková
editing:	Hana Dvořáčková
music:	Jan Šikl ml.
sound:	Klára Jašková
co-producer:	Jarmila Poláková
executive producer:	Jan Bodnár