Скачать или смотреть Valasia - Amaro drom (Official Animation Video)

Subscribe:    / @valasiadodulu505  
Instagram:   / valasia.dodulu  

Composed & performed (voice, backing vocals, bendir): Valasia Dodulu
Lyrics: Valasia Dodulu
Accordion: Artemis Vavatsika
Violin: Stefanos Filos
Mixing & mastering: Vaitsis Junior @ Patenda Studios
Concept, Direction, Artwork, Cinematography, Animation, Post-Production: Valasia Dodulu

Note about the project:
When the incident with Kostas Fragoulis happened (a sixteen-year-old Roma boy who lost his life at the hands of a policeman), I was working in schools with Romani children — the same age as him. They asked me, “Will we be alive tomorrow, just because we are Roma?” This song was all I could come up with in response to such a question — one that touches you deeply as a teacher. They taught me their language. And when I finally managed to write the lyrics, a child smiled and said, “At last, it's nice to be Romani.”

Romani lyrics (translated to English):

We traveled all around the world.
We arrived here on foot.
From our hands come out flowers,
From our mouth come out songs.

We are Romani people, like birds —
Our home is the sky.
We dance with our hearts,
Every song is about love.

This animated music video was created in 2023 as my graduation thesis for the Master’s Degree in Audiovisual Arts at the Ionian University – Department of Audio and Visual Arts. Special thanks to my Roma students from the 1st and 3rd High School of Agia Varvara, for helping me learn the Romani language in order to write the lyrics and to the festivals that have hosted Amaro Drom so far:

ANIMASYROS International Animation Festival
Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People
First-Time Filmmaker Sessions
Animation Day in Cannes
Animart Festival
Balkan Film and Food Festival
SWIFF Film Festival (Finalist)
AniMate – Australia Animation Film Festival (Semi-Finalist)
New York Animation Film Awards (Semi-Finalist)
RAM Film Festival – Rovereto
Festival ICONA (1st Place & Audience Award)
Best International Film Festival – Bucharest (Honorable Mention)
TAF Festival
Video Art Miden
Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy (MIFA market – ASIFA Hellas pavilion)
Greece International Film Festival (Best Music Video)
MONSTRA – Lisbon Animated Film Festival
Comicdom Athens
Los Angeles Greek Film Festival
UFFS
PBISFF