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Past Event

World Cinema Series

Korkoro

Join us for a World Cinema Series film screening/discussion illuminating the theme “Wartime Lives: Enduring and Transcending Violence and Occupation” by analyzing the message and impact of the film Korkoro (France, 2009).

In this passionate WWII drama, a tightly-knit family of Gypsies journeys through occupied France, trying to avoid the violent Vichy patrols. Directed with wit and vigor by Tony Gatlif (Latcho Drom), Korkoro unearths the hidden story of the Romany people’s joys and struggles during the war.

Along the way a young French orphan named Claude (Mathias Laliberté) joins their ranks, and is initiated into their culture. Under the tutelage of acrobatic wild man Taloche (James Thiérrée), Claude learns to love his adoptive family. As the Vichy government passes a law restricting their movement, they avoid capture with the help of a local mayor and schoolteacher, who also have ties to the Resistance. But the longer they avoid arrest, the more dangerous their lives become.

With free-spirited humor and soaring emotion, Korkoro is a revelatory movie about a little known chapter in WWII history. The phenomenal performances, especially Thiérrée’s intensely physical efforts, truly make history come alive.

The discussion of the film will be led by Christopher DeRosa, Associate Professor in the department of History and Anthropology and Mihaela Moscaliuc, Associate Professor in the department of English