Before Leaves Fall

Poland1964documentary28'Pokaz specjalny (2018)

A ballad about Gypsies and one of the most extraordinary achievements of the Polish documentary filmmaking. No other Polish director has succeeded in creating such a rich depiction of the Roma people’s life. Slesicki managed to catch the last glimpses of their nomadic lifestyle. He documented their customs and day-to-day existence just as their colorful world, many a time extolled by writers and poets, was about to disappear. The film takes the viewers on a journey in a Gypsy caravan through villages and small towns. Braniecki’s camera captures an old Gypsy woman as she reads someone’s palm, Gypsy children dancing the twist, coppersmiths at work and a female hand as it swiftly grabs the neck of a hen to hide it under coat. The next scenes show a Gypsy camp, a horse market, a Gypsy wedding, men riding bare back, women cooking outdoors, children frolicking and dancing by a bonfire. Singing, buzz of voices and snippets of conversation recorded on tape complete the ethnographic and poetic description of the Gypsy culture. The vibrant journey ends on a gray autumn day. Sad faces of children cling to a caravan window. Rain falls on a road shrouded in tree leaves. In an interview which followed the completion of the film Slesicki said, “We spent the whole last Summer traveling with the Gypsies from Swiecie, across the whole Pomerania, all the way to Poznan. I brought back six thousand meters of footage, which after editing made a three-act film.” “Before leaves fall” received first prizes at festivals in Cork and Bergamo, as well awards at festivals in Krakow, Lodz, Montevideo, Rodez, Guadalajara and Oberhausen. It was awarded a Golden Duck by the “Film” readers.