Produzione - Production: Cabiria Films
Produttore - Producer: Aleksandar Manic, Judita Křìžová, Marjan Vujovic
Sceneggiatura - Screenplay: Aleksandar Manic
Montaggio - Editing: Aleksandar Manic, Ivana Davidová
Fotografia - Cinematography: Dominik Miškovský
Sound Editor: Juraj Zák
Musica - Music: Varhan Bauer
Cast: Severdžan Bajram
Distribuzione - Distribution: Seventh Art: 323-845-1455, nick@7thart.com

Da qualche parte nei Balcani, ai margini dell'Europa, si trova un luogo unico, lontano dagli occhi del mondo - Shutka, la presunta capitale mondiale dei rom. Questo film immortala su pellicola la storia incredibile di una città che vive di festival musicali, combattimenti tra oche o tra cani e cacce al vampiro. Un luogo in cui si indossa il vestito della domenica, si annientano i geni del male e si gareggia in discipline mai viste. Un incontro con i campioni di cui nessuno ha mai sentito parlare, ma che rimarranno nella memoria di tutti.

Somewhere in the Balkans, on the verge of Europe, there is a unique place, undisclosed to the eyes of the world - Shutka, the alleged world capital of the Roma. This film captures the unbelievable story of a town that thrives on achieving records in songfests, goose fights, dog fights, and vampire hunts, in wearing Sunday best, exterminating evil Genies and competing in disciplines no one would ever have dreamed of. Meet the champions no one has ever heard about, but no one will ever forget.

Note di regia - Director's statement:

"Shutka is unlike any other place I have ever visited. The fear of evil genies and vampires, a deeply rooted superstition is as present in the everyday life of Shutka as drinking Turkish coffee in the morning. But for me, the most remarkable phenomenon about Shutka is the omnipresent everyday struggle of its inhabitants to be a ,champion', in no matter what. The Roma here greet each other by saying, ,Good morning, champ', and they try daily to overcome their hardships by competing in the most unlikely disciplines. I was often unsure about when they were taking themselves seriously, or when they were laughing at themselves, perhaps laughing at life. This is yet another reason why I like to call my film anthropological documentary comedy. It is a film about people who crave to make the best out of their lives under the given conditions by trying to be best at what they do - whether this is exterminating genies, hunting down vampires, training geese to fight or collecting obsolete Turkish music on abraded audio tapes. For me their quest for victory has a deeply touching and moral dimension which highlights a particular human condition - the capacity for happiness however hard the living conditions may be. Shutka, called ,Happy Valley‘ by its inhabitants, has been indexed by the UNHCR as one of the poorest places in Europe."