What Do Gypsy Children Do?
Pál Schiffer
What Do Gypsy Children Do?, Pál Schiffer’s 1971 documentary, exposes the institutional discrimination of Hungary’s education system through the lives of Roma children and their families. The director interviews children, parents, teachers, and school principals about segregated seating, separate playgrounds, and children excluded from education. What makes the film distinctive is that, rather than exploiting Roma poverty or vulnerability for emotional effect, it uses direct questioning to confront the discriminatory system itself. Roma children are not merely illustrations of a predetermined narrative but speak about their own experiences. More than fifty years later, the film remains an important example of how to address social injustice without romanticising or exoticising the lives of those affected.
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Pál Schiffer
Director
Pál Schiffer (1939–2001) was a major Hungarian documentary filmmaker and a member of the experimental documentary workshop of Balázs Béla Studio. He graduated from the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in 1963 and worked at the MAFILM Newsreel and Documentary Studio before turning to socially engaged documentary filmmaking. His films repeatedly examined poverty, social exclusion and the situation of Roma communities.