Educational material The Casting – A satirical short film about the media's reproduction of antigypsyist prejudices
„The Casting“ is a short film produced in collaboration with the Research Centre on Antiziganism. The short film “The Casting” takes a humorous look at the power dynamics at play during the pre-production process of auditioning for roles. In a self-reflexive gesture, it satirises the reproduction of antigypsyist prejudices in the medium of film. We can see that filmmakers have power over the storytelling that others do not. Film directors, screenwriters and costume designers are in position to decide what the characters’ appearance, behaviour, and customs should be, what qualities these characters should have as human beings and what stories they should be part of. Filmmakers are the ones who define the ‘truth’ about ‘gypsies’, whereas Roma have no say in the matter. In short, “The Casting” exposes the power asymmetry at the phase of film production, the lack of dialogue between the filmmakers and the filmed Roma, and the resulting antigypsyist images.
A director is looking for actors for his new film about ‘travelling people on the outskirts of the city’ – the characters should be as “authentic” and ‘true to life’ as possible. So Sinti and Roma are invited to the casting. But they do not correspond at all to the director's antigypsyist prejudices and expectations.
A film against antigypsyism, which aims in particular to highlight how the distorted image of Sinti and Roma is shaped and created by the media.
