The Roma people, often called gypsies, are truly “welcome nowhere,” the title of a documentary by producer/director Kate Ryan. From Ethan Hawke’s narration, we learn that the Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority and that they experience widespread prejudice and discrimination, clearly expressed by comments such as, “Their genes are different. They have nothing to do with our values.”
Given this attitude, it is not surprising that many Roma live in poverty; such is the case of a group in Sofia, Bulgaria, that’s the focus of Welcome Nowhere. The group had been displaced from their homes in 2001 so that a supermarket could be built on the land, and the city provided train boxcars as a “temporary” solution.
However, 10 years later, the camera captures the squalid living conditions. Families of five live in one cramped boxcar with no toilets, and there is only one source of running water for 200 people. Children, who don’t attend school regularly, play in trash-strewn mud, even jumping on broken glass. There are many health issues: we see many with bandages and illnesses.
While it is difficult to view, Welcome Nowhere is a well-edited and persuasive piece of filmmaking. The presentation of multiple points of view is to be particularly commended. Not only are there many interviews with Roma living in the boxcars, but views of scholars, political leaders, advocates, and business owners bordering the community are also included. The problems of this group, and others like them throughout Europe, are difficult to solve but raising awareness is critically important and the film ends on a hopeful note.
Kate Ryan, the producer and director, said that the documentary has played at many festivals in the United States and in Europe, including in Poland and Bulgaria. Ryan hopes to find an educational distributor, and, in addition, the film will be available on streaming sites. Welcome Nowhere was self-funded and Ryan was able to have it narrated by Ethan Hawke after she contacted his mother, Leslie Hawke, who works in Romania with an organization helping to get child beggars off the streets.
