{ "id": "epw9cbat7b", "slug": "time-of-the-gypsies", "title": "Time of the Gypsies", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films", "label": "Coming-of-age films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-before-2000", "label": "Coming-of-age films released before 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-before-2000" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.eeu", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Time of the Gypsies (Dom za vešanje) is a 1988 Yugoslav-British-Italian drama by Emir Kusturica, the first feature filmed entirely in Romani, about teen Perhan drawn into child trafficking; it won Cannes 1989 Best Director.", "snippet": "Time of the Gypsies (Dom za vešanje) is a 1988 Yugoslav-British-Italian drama by Emir Kusturica, the first feature filmed entirely in Romani, about teen Perhan drawn into child trafficking; it won Cannes 1989 Best Director.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-before-2000", "markdown": "# Time of the Gypsies\n\n**Time of the Gypsies** ([Serbo-Croatian](https://www.edgepedia.org/serbo-croatian): *Dom za vešanje*, literally \"Home for Hanging\") is a 1988 drama film directed by [Emir Kusturica](https://www.edgepedia.org/emir-kusturica), a Yugoslav, British, and Italian co-production about a Romani teenager from [Yugoslavia](https://www.edgepedia.org/yugoslavia) who is drawn into a criminal child-trafficking ring operating between the Balkans and Italy. It won Kusturica the Best Director Award at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and is regarded as the first film ever made entirely in the Romani language.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401399/) • [2](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1990/0305/lgyp.html) • [3](https://www.rts.rs/lat/tv/rts1/3705802/dom-za-vesanje---film.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Dom za vešanje*; international title Time of the Gypsies[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401399/) |\n| Director and writers | Emir Kusturica; screenplay by Kusturica and Gordan Mihic[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/time-of-the-gypsies/) |\n| Production | Yugoslavia, Italy, United Kingdom, 1988; 142 minutes; Yugoslav premiere 21 December 1988[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401399/) |\n| Language | Entirely in Romani, the first feature film so made[3](https://www.rts.rs/lat/tv/rts1/3705802/dom-za-vesanje---film.html) |\n| Cannes 1989 | Best Director Award for Kusturica; also the Roberto Rossellini prize from a jury of international filmmakers[2](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1990/0305/lgyp.html) |\n| Principal cast | Davor Dujmovic (Perhan), Bora Todorovic (Ahmed), Ljubica Adzovic (the grandmother), Sinolicka Trpkova (Azra)[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/time-of-the-gypsies/) |\n| Music | Goran Bregovic, who also scored Kusturica's later *Underground* (1995)[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-09-ca-33-story.html) • [6](https://fdu.bg.ac.rs/uploads/files/Institut/ezbornik/Zbornik%2038/Marija%20%C4%86iri%C4%87_FILMSKA%20OPERA%20EMIRA%20KUSTURICE%20U%20KONTEKSTU%20BALKANSKOG%20%28FILMSKOG%29%20%C5%BDANRA.pdf) |\n| US release | Columbia Pictures, rated R; grossed $183.3K in the United States[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/time_of_the_gypsies) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nPerhan, a young Romani with telekinetic powers, lives in a gypsy ghetto with his grandmother, whose healing powers and the sale of limestone support the family. He is in love with his neighbor Azra, but her mother refuses his requests for marriage because of his poverty. The criminal Ahmed (Ahmed Djida) persuades Perhan to leave his devoted grandmother and use his powers to earn money illegally, and Perhan is brought by deception to Italy, where he works for Ahmed in theft and child trafficking.[3](https://www.rts.rs/lat/tv/rts1/3705802/dom-za-vesanje---film.html) • [4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/time-of-the-gypsies/) • [8](https://leffest.com/en/films/o-tempo-dos-ciganos-2)\n\nAhmed's gang keeps a retinue of pregnant women and young children in virtual slavery, sending them out to beg each morning and taking their earnings each night.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-09-ca-33-story.html) While maturing into a criminal, Perhan searches for his sister, who is supposedly having an operation on her leg, and saves money for his dream of returning home and marrying the girl he loves.[3](https://www.rts.rs/lat/tv/rts1/3705802/dom-za-vesanje---film.html)\n\nReturning home, he finds Azra pregnant, wrongly assumes the child is not his, and marries her; she dies in childbirth. Having lost his faith in himself and others, Perhan seeks revenge on Ahmed and is killed by Ahmed's men. His dream survives him: his son walks the dusty streets of the gypsy quarter, perhaps toward a different future.[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/time-of-the-gypsies/)\n\n## Origins and production\n\n[Sony Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-pictures) describes the film, Kusturica's third feature after *[Do You Remember Dolly Bell?](https://www.edgepedia.org/do-you-remember-dolly-bell)* (1981) and the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor)-winning *When Father Was Away on Business* (1985), as inspired by a newspaper article on the inter-European trade in young Gypsy children.[9](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/timeofthegypsies) The narrative was also drawn from conversations Kusturica had with Roma in a Skopje prison and from time spent with Sarajevo's Romani population in his youth.[10](https://www.enl.auth.gr/gramma/gramma06/homer.pdf) During preparation he lived for several months in a Romani settlement near Skopje, listening to old myths told about freedom and death.[11](https://old.mkuh.cz/index.php?id=kshow&kid=2178)\n\nThe film was made with the British producer Harry Saltzman as co-producer alongside Mirza Pasic, shot by cinematographer Vilko Filac, and distributed internationally by [Columbia Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-pictures).[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-09-ca-33-story.html) It was filmed in real Romani territories of Europe, mostly in Yugoslavia and Italy.[2](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1990/0305/lgyp.html)\n\n## Style and reception\n\nThe film combines documentary-like observation of Romani life with an elliptical, fantastic style influenced by Latin American magic realism: brides float in the air, houses levitate, and knives find their victims telekinetically.[9](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/timeofthegypsies) • [5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-09-ca-33-story.html) The Guardian called it \"a stunning epic coming-of-age story\" that combines documentary-like realism with poetic lyricism.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/76444/time-of-the-gypsies) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 100% Tomatometer score from 7 critics and a 96% audience score.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/time_of_the_gypsies)\n\nAt Cannes in 1989 Kusturica won Best Director, and *Cahiers du Cinéma* named the film Best Film of the year.[2](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1990/0305/lgyp.html) • [8](https://leffest.com/en/films/o-tempo-dos-ciganos-2) The film was also a European Film Award nominee in 1989.[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097223/awards/)\n\n## Significance\n\nThe film is widely treated as a landmark in the screen representation of the Roma. [The Christian Science Monitor](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-christian-science-monitor)'s reviewer placed it among the few films that have gotten Gypsies convincingly onto the screen, noting its success in portraying the hard, chaotic lives of Romani peasants.[2](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1990/0305/lgyp.html) Croatian film scholarship regards it as the film that rounded off Kusturica's trilogy on the family, treating the smuggling and sale of children not as material for an appeal to conscience but as the sociographic starting point for a more complex creation.[14](https://v1.hfs.hr/doc/ljetopis/hfl45-web.pdf) Its music by Goran Bregovic became central to the \"Balkan genre\" that defines Kusturica's later poetics, alongside *Underground* (1995).[6](https://fdu.bg.ac.rs/uploads/files/Institut/ezbornik/Zbornik%2038/Marija%20%C4%86iri%C4%87_FILMSKA%20OPERA%20EMIRA%20KUSTURICE%20U%20KONTEKSTU%20BALKANSKOG%20%28FILMSKOG%29%20%C5%BDANRA.pdf) Academic work has continued to examine the film's role in giving space to a Roma voice and its place in Western narratives about a \"people without history\".[15](https://run.unl.pt/bitstream/10362/160331/1/Time_of_The_Gypsies_LPreview_FINAL_c_pia.pdf) • [16](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/448659)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Time of the Gypsies (Dom za vesanje), Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401399/)\n2. [David Sterritt, \"Convincing Look At Gypsy Life\", The Christian Science Monitor, 5 March 1990](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1990/0305/lgyp.html)\n3. [Dom za vešanje – film, RTS](https://www.rts.rs/lat/tv/rts1/3705802/dom-za-vesanje---film.html)\n4. [Time of the Gypsies, European Film Academy](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/time-of-the-gypsies/)\n5. [Sheila Benson, \"Braiding Strands of Charm, Cruelty in Dramatic 'Gypsies'\", Los Angeles Times, 9 February 1990](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-09-ca-33-story.html)\n6. [Marija Ćirić, \"Filmska opera Emira Kusturice u kontekstu balkanskog (filmskog) žanra\", Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu](https://fdu.bg.ac.rs/uploads/files/Institut/ezbornik/Zbornik%2038/Marija%20%C4%86iri%C4%87_FILMSKA%20OPERA%20EMIRA%20KUSTURICE%20U%20KONTEKSTU%20BALKANSKOG%20%28FILMSKOG%29%20%C5%BDANRA.pdf)\n7. [Time of the Gypsies, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/time_of_the_gypsies)\n8. [Time of the Gypsies, LEFFEST – Lisboa Film Festival](https://leffest.com/en/films/o-tempo-dos-ciganos-2)\n9. [Time of the Gypsies, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/timeofthegypsies)\n10. [Homer, \"The narrative for Time of the Gypsies\", Gramma](https://www.enl.auth.gr/gramma/gramma06/homer.pdf)\n11. [Městská kina Uherské Hradiště, Dům k pověšení](https://old.mkuh.cz/index.php?id=kshow&kid=2178)\n12. [Time of the Gypsies, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/76444/time-of-the-gypsies)\n13. [Time of the Gypsies (1988) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097223/awards/)\n14. [Dom za vešanje (1988), Hrvatski filmski ljetopis](https://v1.hfs.hr/doc/ljetopis/hfl45-web.pdf)\n15. [Time of the Gypsies and Space for the Voice of a Roma, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa](https://run.unl.pt/bitstream/10362/160331/1/Time_of_The_Gypsies_LPreview_FINAL_c_pia.pdf)\n16. [The Time of the Gypsies: A \"People without History\" in the Narratives of the West, Critical Inquiry](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/448659)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Coming-of-age films › Coming-of-age films released before 2000*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/time-of-the-gypsies", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/time-of-the-gypsies.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Time of the Gypsies\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/time-of-the-gypsies. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Time of the Gypsies](https://www.edgepedia.org/time-of-the-gypsies)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/time-of-the-gypsies](https://www.edgepedia.org/time-of-the-gypsies). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Time of the Gypsies\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/time-of-the-gypsies. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Time of the Gypsies is a 1988 Yugoslav-British-Italian drama by Emir Kusturica, the first feature filmed entirely in Romani, about teen Perhan drawn into child trafficking; it won Cannes 1989 Best Director." }