Uglyville
A Contention of Anti-Romaism in Europe
by Eduard Freudmann and Ivana Marjanović
Austria/Serbia 2010, 57 min., English/Serbian/German with English subtitles
produced by Kontekst and Kraja

screens

The film Uglyville – A Contention of Anti-Romaism in Europe is a critical analysis of the interrelation of racism (i.e. anti-Romaism) and capitalism in so called New Europe (Europe after 1989) but also an analysis of strategies of resistance to its necropolitical governance.
The starting point for the film was the brutal demolition and fencing of a Roma slum next to "Belville", a residential area erected to accommodate guests of the international sports event "Universiade Belgrade 2009". In the same time Serbia was holding the annually rotating presidency of the "Roma Decade", an international initiative that tends to represent an "unprecedented political commitment by European governments to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma". For that year, one would expect Serbia to make serious efforts towards improving the discriminated position of Roma and decreasing the effects of a policy of anti-Romaism that has lasted for centuries in the region. The opposite was the case: What we witnessed was the total disregard of the Decade's objectives and even an intensification of discrimination by Belgrade authorities, citizens and media. Seen from the perspective of the coloniality of power and the history of anti-Romaism in Europe, this event appears to be a paradigmatic case of anti-Romaism in contemporary EUrope.

Credits
Uglyville – A Contention of Anti-Romaism in Europe is based on the text "Contention of Anti-Romaism as a Part of the Process of the Decoloniality of Europe" written by Ivana Marjanovic, extended, edited and adapted by Eduard Freudmann and Ivana Marjanovic.
Dramaturgical adviser, script editor/proofreader: Lina Dokuzovic
Narrator: Ana Hoffner Performers
Theorist: Ivan Jurica
Activist 1: Eduard Freudmann
Activist 2: Ivana Marjanovic
Camera operator, sound recordist, editor: Eduard Freudmann
Sound recording for narrator: Martin Riha
Sound editor: Martin Riha
Typographic design: Ramon Grendene
Background poster for theorist scene illustrated by Petja Dimitrova