‘This is a great film which has important historical relevance in portraying the struggle for equality through the portrait of a female Nordic Romani activist.’

Ivana Todorovic

Synopsis

Exceptional people make a lasting impact on their society, but what makes them so outstanding? The self-portrait documentary Taikon, directed by Lawen Mohtadi and Gellert Tamas in 2015, depicts the life of Katarina Taikon, one of the most important Roma woman in modern history. The directors spent years getting to understand the Romani culture and Taikon’s character. Although Taikon initially struggles with various forms of marginalisation and poverty growing up as a Roma girl, she later turns into a charismatic and empowered woman – completely breaking with the usual representations of Roma on screen. Consequently, this documentary is important for the Roma emancipation movement in portraying the struggle for equality through the life of a Nordic Romani woman. A sequence of original footage of Katarina Taikon herself as well as contemporary interviews with those who knew her best paint a comprehensive picture about the life of an extraordinary woman, who pioneered the rights of Swedish Roma. Her journey from illiterate girl to well-known book author, political activist and advocate for Roma issues is astonishing.

The documentary gives a human and realistic portrait of her life, taking a chronological approach from her traumatic early life right up to her death. Fleeing her forced marriage as a teenager, Taikon had a brief career as an actress and quickly became a strong and prominent figure. Her grim and difficult childhood undoubtedly inspired her later career. The story of Katitzi in a popular book she authored is a reflection of her own life, and is read by the author herself in the documentary; the book was written as therapy for coming to terms with her past. Images and footage of Taikon show her as a cheerful and very confident person, who preserved her modesty even after she had gained a reputation and respect for her political efforts and literary work. She tirelessly fought for Roma rights to education, housing and access to work.

The documentary powerfully shows that Taikon’s remarkable strength and stamina drove her to educate herself and become a public figure. No wonder she was nicknamed ‘Sweden’s Martin Luther King’; indeed she met Martin Luther King personally in the 1960s. Her fight to build a more just Swedish society with equal rights and opportunities for Roma, as well as her tireless devotion to the cause ultimately exhausted her, and after many years in a coma she passed away. At the end of the documentary, a series of images once again reinforces Taikon’s lasting contribution to Roma rights and Swedish society at large. The last shot is a black-and-white image of her face – the strong look, powerful eyes and gentle facial characteristics embody the endurance, determination and dynamism that guided Katarina Taikon throughout her life.

Reception

Tempo Documentary Film Festival (Sweden), March 2015 https://tempofestival.se/en/program/taikon-2/

Sweden’s Way Out West Festival, August 2015 http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/way-out-west-to-host-jonas-akerlund-world-premiere/5090802.article

Screening at the NYC Scandinavia House, 2016, hosted by the Consulate General of Sweden in New York http://www.swedenabroad.com/en-GB/Embassies/New-York/Current-affairs/News/Screening-of-Documentary-Taikon-at-Scandinavia-House-sys/

Screening at the Washington DC House of Sweden, 2016
http://www.dc-embassy-events.org/events/2016/10/16/film-series-screening-of-taikon

Social Justice Film Festival in Seattle, USA, November 2016 http://www.socialjusticefilmfestival.org/?tribe_events=katarina-taikon

Unspoken Human Rights Festival, Utica, NY, USA, October 2016
http://www.iamunspoken.com/film-festival/

Screening at the Compact Roma Film Night (Romedia), Budapest, Hungary, 2017 http://www.cei.int/sites/default/files/file/compact_with%20logo.pdf

Katarina Taikon has been compared to Martin Luther King. She was born in a tent, and came to change the course of Swedish history. The story about the young girl who was denied education, learned to read in her late twenties, and later became one of the most read authors of children’s books in Sweden, is also an account of the emergence of the modern Swedish welfare society – and the one group left behind: the Roma minority.

»I don’t know how people will react to my book, all I know is that it’s the beginning of a long struggle.«

With those words Katarina Taikon stepped into the limelight. The year was 1963 and her first book, Gypsy Woman, had just been published. This was also the start of her lifelong struggle for human rights for the Roma in Sweden, aiming to provide access to education, long denied, and the closure of the tent and caravan camps where Swedish citizens of Roma background were forced to live.

Katarina Taikon’s struggle in the 1960’s was hugely successful, but she also became the target of vicious attacks from politicians as well as »ordinary people«.

In the 1970’s Katarina Taikon started writing the autobiographical series of children’s books about the young Roma girl, Katitzi. The sequence became a huge success and was the most read children’s books in Sweden second only to Astrid Lindgren’s international successes Pippi Longstocking. A whole generation of children in Sweden grew up reading the books about Katitzi.

The documentary paints a dramatic and vivid portrait of one of the most important advocates of human rights in 20th century Europe, set against the backdrop of the developing Swedish welfare state.

The film, directed by Gellert Tamas and Lawen Mohtadi, will premiere in late 2015. The film is based on Mohtadi’s acclaimed biography of Katarina Taikon, The Day I Will Be Free (Natur & Kultur, 2012).