A NEW film portraying the forgotten story of the persecution of Roma people during the Holocaust has premiered in Belfast.
Rozkvet is the debut feature film by North Belfast director Thomas Pollock and written by Andrew McNeill.
Rozkvet is more than a wartime drama. Set in occupied Czechoslovakia in 1943, the film focuses on the lesser-known story of the Roma holocaust, with up to 1.5 million Romani people believed to have been murdered in Nazi-controlled territories.
The story centres on Erika, played by Katarina Kokenyova, as she takes up arms to protect herself and her young son Fillip, played by Katarina's nephew Luis Szajko.
Her husband has been killed by Nazi forces and Erika isolates herself and her son in the forest. She is forced to take up arms and help the local resistance after agreeing to a mission that spirals out of control.
Katarina’s sister, Lejla Szajkova plays her resistance fighter sister Kvetka.
Katarina’s husband and writer Andrew McNeill stars in the film as an SS leader called Engel, who is hunting Erika down.
Czech actor Pavel Kriz, who appeared in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol plays Silvano Reale, an Italian diplomat torn between his German allies and his conscience.
The cast also features a number of Romani actors.
Katarina Kokenyova and Lejla Szajkova
Rozkvet was originally penned as a one-act play but soon the wheels were in motion about adapting it into a screenplay with the help of producer Larry Cowan of Lamb Films.
Filming got underway in the summer of 2024 in locations in Belfast and and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.
Thomas Pollock and Andrew McNeill spoke to Belfast Media at the premiere as part of Belfast Film Festival at Odeon Cinema on Wednesday night.
"Rozkvet is a film set during WWII about two Roma women taking up arms to save their family in Czechoslovakia," said Thomas
"It started off as a short before becoming a play and then into a feature film. It is very authentic and people will see that and that was a challenge in itself. There were also other challenges in terms of doing a WWII film and working on a low budget."
Andrew McNeill and Thomas Pollock
Andrew said he was inspired to write the play after hearing from Katarina about the discrimination Roma people have faced and still face today.
The film draws on Kokenyova's own experiences and family history with the production also seeking to place authentic Roma representation at the centre of its storytelling, both in front of and behind the camera.
"I was inspired to write it about hearing from my wife Katarina and her family stories being from a Roma background and hearing what family members went through during the Holocaust and WWII," he said.
"The Roma people still go through a lot. The reason why they moved from their native country is because of persecution. We have seen anti-Roma racism in Ballymena and Belfast in recent years.
"I believe it is a story that needed to be told and hasn't been told through cinema. We had a play and it was just about extending that for film.
"I want people to take away the historical context of the film and know a bit more about the Roma people. They are human beings like the rest of us and deserve respect and free from stereotypes.
"We filmed it in and around Belfast so to have its premiere in Belfast as part of Belfast Film Festival is a real honour for everyone who worked so hard on the film."
