Roma Under State Pressure

synopsis

The documentary explores a subject long overlooked in Czech historiography: Czechoslovakia’s restrictive policies towards the Roma minority after 1948. Through eyewitness accounts, archival material and expert commentary, it reveals the state’s systematic efforts to assimilate Roma people, from forced relocations and bans on traditional ways of life to unequal access to education, forced sterilisation and the severing of family ties. The arbitrary exercise of state power turned the lives of an entire community into a social experiment aimed at erasing its identity. The film poses a fundamental question: to what extent are today’s prejudices and social exclusion a direct consequence of these practices, some of which persist even in a democratic society?

biography

Jan Rousek is a filmmaker and artistic researcher whose work focuses on the decolonisation of Czechoslovak cinema. He holds degrees in filmmaking from FAMU in Prague and history from the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. He earned his PhD at FAMU in 2025.

film details

director:	Jan Rousek
producer:	Martina Šantavá
script:	Nikola Ludlová
photography:	Jan Rousek
editing:	Jan Rousek
sound:	Jakub Jurásek