Sky's the limit

A trailer for the film Romany Me, to get a copy of the film email: romanyme2010@aol.com

Bullying, self-harm and racial hatred all feature in a new film which has exposed the damage ignorance  can do to young Gypsy and Traveller lives. Romany Me, based on some of the real life events of a young girl’s life is soon to be screened on Sky TV.

The powerful 16 minute drama  won best film at the Youth Film Awards, during the London Happy Soul Festival in April this year - to raise awareness about mental health in black and minority ethnic and socially excluded groups.

Since it began in the London borough of Merton in 2007, it has expanded from the Asian community to include the Iranian, Korean, Congolese, Somali, Ethiopian, African-Caribbean, Indian, Jewish and now Gypsy and Traveller community.

But the film is far from an outsiders view, because Romany Me was co-written by a young girl, Tayla-Jaye and her mother, Adele "Dee" Gregory, after they overcame their own struggle with bullying.

It focuses on a teenage traveller girl, Lena, who after her family are evicted from a traveller’s site, move into a house. It tells of her journey to overcome the bullying she suffers, by focusing on her passion for dancing.

The film conveys how external factors such as bullying can affect the emotional and mental wellbeing of a person. Dee said: “There had been some really traumatic times at school and for that reason that’s why we wanted to tell her story.”

Sutton Mental Health Foundation, who are involved in the Happy Soul festival, approached the family to write and make a film about the Gypsy and Traveller community, and they decided that enhancing their family’s story about the bullying would help raise much needed awareness.

 “There were points when I thought, ‘what am I doing?’, but the strength and passion given by all to tell this story, was the drive to see the project through,” says Dee.

Dee says her family went through hell when her daughter was bullied: “It broke me and it affected us all,” she says. She says some people might wonder why she simply didn’t move schools, but she explained that if she moved somewhere else, it could happen again.

Cecile Bowie, a Community Development Worker for the Foundation charity, has come into contact with other members of the Gypsy and Traveller community in the London Borough of Sutton.

And they very often tell her how they have been discriminated against and there are many children from the traveller community who have experienced bullying at school.

“In terms of health it is very difficult for them to trust public service when they have been excluded from British society for over 600 years,” Cecile added.

Another reason why Dee wanted to tell her daughter’s story was to change people’s perceptions about members of the travelling community.

 “To be honest, that’s what drove us – if it changed just one person’s opinion – it matters,” adds Dee.

The film was directed by award-winning director Julius Amedume, who Dee says took time to learn about her community before directing the project.

Cary Rajinder Sawhney, who organised the film festival that Romany Me won, says: “It’s against the law to be racist or homophobic, but the kind of issues that travellers experience are not as widely condemned, and are still happening today.

“I found it shocking to find out how much prejudice there was towards this group of people.”

He plans to recommend the film to the London Film Festival and other international film festivals and Dee is hopeful that it might be turned into a full length feature film.

“This is not just a really beautiful film.  It is a rare representation of their community,” he said.

“I believe the film deserves to be seen more widely because it is a unique story and there have only ever been five or six traveller movies ever made in the UK.”

The film was largely shot in a dance school started by Dee, after she took TJ out of the dance school she had been in since she was a toddler, because of the bullying she suffered once they discovered her Romany Gypsy background.

The Ambition Dance and Drama group has now grown from nine children to about 50, who are from different cultures and background, partly funded by the council and generates other income through fundraising.

“It has gotten bigger and bigger – we’ve achieved so much in 17 months, it’s a club for everybody,” says Dee.

On the awards night, when Romany Me was announced as the winner, Dee said all 50 of the children jumped on top of her in excitement.

“You had to pull them off the ceiling.  What I remember was being hung on by these children and they were coming from all parts of me,” she said.

Dee hopes that in the future Romany culture will become more accepted and that people will be able to distinguish between the different travelling communities.

For the past 3 years the dance group has supported Gypsy, Roma  Traveller History Month every June, which, Dee believes  will help foster more understanding and remove prejudice towards Gypsies and Travellers.

 “The word pikey should be eliminated from the vocabulary. These are not words that people should be allowed to say,” she says.