Born in Algiers on September 10, 1948, Tony Gatlif left Algeria – like so many others at the turn of the 1960s. He discovered film at school – his schoolteacher had bought a 16mm projector and would show films to be discussed in class on a weekly basis. "We saw Jean Vigo's films, John Ford's, Chaplin's... The film library made its way to my wasteland. That's how I learnt about films."
When he arrived in France emptyhanded, he became a street kid and experienced delinquency and juvenile correction homes. During the day he would find shelter in the Grands Boulevards' movie theatres to get some sleep. One evening in 1966 he decided to meet with actor Michel Simon – whom he idolised – who appeared on stage in René de Obaldia's WIND IN THE BRANCHES OF THE SASSAFRAS. At the end of the performance he let himself into the actor's dressing room and Simon wrote him a recommendation letter for his agent.
Tony Gatlif managed to sign up for an acting class. Five years later he appeared on the TNP stage in an Edward Bond play directed by Claude Régy. It was at that time that Tony Gatlif wrote his first script based on his experience of correction homes – LA RAGE AU POING (Raging Fists). In 1975, he directed his first feature film, LA TÊTE EN RUINE, never released in France. Three years later LA TERRE AU VENTRE dealt with the story of a French Algerian settler and her four daughters set against the Algeria War of Independence. "At the time," remembers the director, "I was fascinated by Andreas Baader's story and I shot this pictureabout the Algeria Revolution with him at the back of my mind." In 1981 he went to Spain to direct CORRE GITANO featuring Gypsies from Grenade and Seville. The film was never released in France either. "It was the very first picture made about Gypsies’ condition." But it was not until LES PRINCES that Tony Gatlif really garnered attention. Critically acclaimed, unaffected LES PRINCES is about those Gypsies who decided to settle down in the Paris suburbs.
Gatlif meant the film to be truly hardhitting. With LES PRINCES the director also met Gérard Lebovici, who would become one of his lifelong acquaintances. "He told me at the end of a screening that he'd feel miserable if I didn't let him take care of the film. He then went on to show the film to Guy Debord, the Situationist Movement leader who was responsible for slogans that went like 'Les Princes are no traitors' and that we posted on the walls in the streets of Paris. " Producer Lebovici came up with a film project about Jacques Mesrine shortly afterwards – but Gatlif turned it down. Lebovici then offered him complete freedom : the director seized the opportunity to write and direct RUE DU DÉPART. The film deals with a teenage girl who runs away from home, seeking for her father's image. PLEURE PAS MY LOVE proved that Gatlif's sole interest was not drop-out characters – as his detractors would have it.
He then went on to make GASPARD ET ROBINSON, a buddy-movie social comedy dealing with unemployment. In 1992 Tony Gatlif began production on LATCHO DROM (Safe Journey), a true tribute to Gypsy music. With only a limited crew,he walked in the path of the Gypsies trough a musical journey that took him from Rajasthan to Andalucia, Egypt, Turkey, Rumania, Hungary and France for a whole year. Presented in the category "Un Certain Regard" at the Cannes Film Festival the film was well received. MONDO, Gatlif's follow-up, was inspired by the director's meeting with writer Jean-Marie G. Le Clezio. It is the story of a ten year-old, parentless child who one day lands in Nice. "MONDO is both a pearl and a knife. It's a jewel set against a stack of daggers." In 1997, GADJO DILO portrayed a young "Gadjo" ("foreigner" in Rom language) arriving in a Gypsy village in Rumania and looking for a missing singer. The film was critically and publicly acclaimed, both in France and abroad.
One year later Gatlif reunited GADJO DILO's couple – Romain Duris and Rona Hartner – to helm libertarian JE SUIS NÉ D'UNE CIGOGNE. In 2000, Spanish Flamenco ballet star Antonio Canales made his screen debut in VENGO, a story of two Andalucian families competing with each other. It was a tribute to Flamenco music and Andalucia : "I meant it as a song of praise of the Mediterranean." One year later, SWING was shot in the East of France and told of the meeting of Max, a little boy aspiring to become a great guitarist "like Django Reinhardt", and Swing, a Gypsy kid.
Mongrel Media
