Sam Roma: We Are Gypsies | The doc film by Marina Danezi exclusively at Onassis Channel

Roma people are peculiar, and their identity is lost somewhere between the past and roaming through the land. From India to Egypt and Sweden to Britain, the Wandering Kings of the Road are a steady part of human geography, sometimes living slightly outside the law and social acceptance.

Greek Roma people love dancing and singing and know how to throw parties and fairs. They fall in love, elope, and get married; their families are big, and they practice their customs and respect their traditions. They are merchants and farmers, and their wives claim they are specialists in tarot card reading and palm reading. Survival is an everyday challenge for them, and they claim that “people who live on the streets learn more than those who go to school.”

The lack of education forces them to use their brains more. Yet, it is also responsible for them enticing into breaking the law. Law-breaking is getting worse due to the recession and the government’s indifference to their problems. Still, the Roma people manage to stay fiery and proud.

By traveling to their neighborhoods and communities in Attica, Argolida, and Ilia, we succeeded in entering their previously inaccessible world and collecting interesting sociological data. Roma people welcomed us into their lives, keeping their hearts warm and wide open.

Directors Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikoris present “Romáland”, a performance about the life of the Greek Roma that straddles the line between documentary and fiction, on Onassis Stegi's Main Stage in conjunction with Marina Danezi’s film “Sam Roma: We Are Gypsies”. At the Exhibition Hall -1, Loukia Alavanou's VR installation "Oedipus in search of Colonus," which represented Greece at the 59th Venice Biennale, features members of the Roma community from Nea Zoi Aspropyrgos following in the traces of Oedipus. Finally, as part of the series "Society Uncensored" on the Onassis Channel on YouTube, members of the Roma community participate in an open debate held at Onassis Stegi's Upper Stage in February.