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Tony Gatlif
Birth at
10 September 1948
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Tony Gatleaf is a French director, actor, screenwriter, composer, producer of Roma origin, whose real name is Michel Dahmani. Tony is one of the few filmmakers to make feature films in the Roma language. Moreover, he is considered one of the founders of gypsy cinema. Tony was born in 1948 in Algeria. His father was an Algerian Kabil, and his mother came from a family of Roma-Kales who settled in a slum near Algeria. Tony himself admitted that his childhood was simply terrible. They lived in poverty.
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Tony Gatleaf is a French director, actor, screenwriter, composer, producer of Roma origin, whose real name is Michel Dahmani. Tony is one of the few filmmakers to make feature films in the Roma language. Moreover, he is considered one of the founders of gypsy cinema.
Tony was born in 1948 in Algeria. His father was an Algerian Kabil, and his mother came from a family of Roma-Kales who settled in a slum near Algeria. Tony himself admitted that his childhood was simply terrible. They lived in poverty. The only good memories are the movies the school teacher showed them. In one of the works, Gatlif saw the actor Michel Smirno. It was he who became his idol and role model.
When the boy was 12 years old, his parents announced that they were marrying him to a specially chosen girl. Then Tony decided to run away from home and went to France. He earned his living in various ways: cleaning shoes, working as a sailor and stealing, for which he was repeatedly convicted.
In 1965, Gatlif sees Michel Simon during his performance at the theatre. After the play, Tony manages to get into the dressing room to the actor and talk with him. This conversation radically changed the life of a young man. After that, he decided to become a film director.
Tony graduated from drama courses in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and became an actor. He played in theater and television. Gatlif's film debut was in 1974.
"Aggression" "Exiles" .