Romanipen is the set of values or code that Gypsies must follow to be true Roma, as they call themselves. The persecution they have suffered and the process of assimilation they have undertaken to survive have forced them to adapt the Romanipen to the specific circumstances they face in each of the countries where Gypsies live. With twelve million people spread out around the world, the Roma have a significant presence in many countries. To understand the diversity of the Roma people, their origin, their problems and achievements, we have taken the path they have walked over the last thousand years. We have interviewed gypsies from all spheres of life, including politicians, victims of police abuse, survivors of the holocaust, and tribes from where Gypsies originated in India. Like them, we have traveled from India to Spain, always heading West in search of the house where the sun sets.

 

Photographers Kike del Olmo and Ima Garmendia spent 6 months traveling from India to Spain in an old Land Rover following the route that the Roma took one thousand years ago when they left India. In order to film the documentary they met with Gypsies in Iran, Turkey, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Chezch Republic, Poland, Finland, France and Spain. The documentary was first released in the Human Rights festival of San Sebastian in 2006