Dajori

Directed with great understanding by Marti Páv and Nicolas Kourek, Dajori tells about the everyday life of a Romani couple. In addition to their own children, the couple is raising two of the wife’s sister’s nine children, as the children’s father is in prison and the mother is unable to take care of them. The other children live with other siblings of the wife.

Filmed in Varnsdorf, on the German border, the film follows the modest life of a poor family over three winters and three summers. The main character is Marie, the film’s “dajori, mother figure, who calmly and gently leads her family. The husband, who remains in the background, does his part at home by cooking and doing the laundry. But it is Marie who raises the children.

Marie is particularly concerned about Samuel, who is nine years old at the beginning of the film. Marie is worried that the boy will grow up to be like his father. Fortunately, she has help from a social worker who convinces Marie to let Samuel start wrestling. The wrestling goes well, but the lively boy gets bored. He misses his mother and dreams of going away.

Dajori examines the transmission of discrimination and poverty from one generation to another. Marie compares the Roma to crows, who live in the trees of Varnsdorf. The crows are being shot and pushed out of sight. However, the film also shows the importance of a supportive embrace, and at the end you feel the gentle, happy warmth of a summer’s day.

Jaana Semeri (translated by Kati Kiviniemi)

There will also be a free screening of the film at Lumosali on 4 February at 16. Lumosali screening does not require advance registration.