The Amfiteatru Foundation is organizing Caleido Days between August 25 and 28. We celebrate cultural diversity, with an emphasis on Roma culture, through a series of artistic events that will take place in Piața Ferentari in Bucharest. Taraful de la Vărbilău, Johny Romano, artists Alina Șerban, Katia Pascariu, or Niko G. x Kali are just a few of the names found in the Caleido Days program. Access to the events is free.
For four days, the public will meet Roma personalities and true role models of success at the events within Caleido Days, which combine theater performances, concerts, DJ sessions, and photography, dance, painting, theater, crafts, civic education, and Roma culture history workshops, alongside gastronomy.
“The programs we have carried out in Ferentari over time have had visible effects in improving the quality of life, for both children and adults. At the same time, they also helped us see the people here better and the things they face every day. This year’s events were designed to bring together people from Ferentari and those outside it who love Roma culture, to build bridges and collaborations, both in the community and outside it. There are real reasons to be proud of what the people here have managed to do in recent years, from a constructive dialogue with the authorities to overcoming stereotypes and the affirmation of young people on major stages in the country and abroad. All these sum up hundreds of hours of work, based on a dream, a passion, and confidence in a better future,” says Ion Borșan, president of the Amfiteatru Foundation.
Taraful de la Vărbilău and Tanti Mioara, one of the rare female traditional lăutar musicians in Romania, known for their meaningful village music, will hold a Șaraimanic concert dedicated to the public of all ages on the Caleido Days stage. Johny Romano, the phenomenal artist discovered and supported by Connect-R, who combines rap with lăutareasca music, as well as young artists Niko G. x Kali (Nicoleta Ghiță and Mihaela Drăgan), the authors of Romania’s first feminist trap album, “Tehno-Vrăjitoarele,” which addresses anti-racist and social themes as well as personal subjects in their lyrics, alongside DJ Aldessa and DJ Skiller, complete an eclectic program.
Alina Șerban, actress, playwright, screenwriter, and the first Roma female theater and film director in Romania, will be present at Caleido Days with the autobiographical show “Cel mai bun copil din lume,” a story of a Roma girl who discovers race, color, and background differences from early childhood, but who manages to succeed in life and turn complexes into determination and motivation. The show will be followed by the screening of the short film directed by Alina Șerban, “Bilet de iertare,” the first film about Roma slavery from a Roma perspective (Special Mention at TIFF, Best Narrative Director at Female Voices Rock – USA).
Katia Pascariu, the Romanian included by film critics in the top best actors of 2021 by the New York Times, comes to Caleido Days with a show that is still being performed 12 years after its first staging, “Copii răi,” which talks about the communication fracture between children and parents/teachers.
The Caleido Days program also features productions by Studiourile Ferentari, among them “Povestiri din curtea școlii,” a show created together with young people living in the Ferentari neighborhood, about their stories, from the neighborhood and from life.
Aldessa Georgiana Lincan, a Roma feminist activist with expertise in advocacy and grassroots community organizing with groups of Roma women, young Roma men, and young Roma women, will hold a Romani language workshop and a civic activism workshop during Caleido Days.
Caleido Days is an event organized by the Amfiteatru Foundation, which will take place between August 25-28 in Piața Ferentari in Bucharest, and access is free.
The event is addressed to all Bucharest residents interested in knowing the authentic reality and diversity of Roma culture, as well as adults and children from the Ferentari community, its purpose being to increase social cohesion in Ferentari.
More details: https://www.facebook.com/caleidoRO and https://www.caleido.ro/
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