The documentary follows three Roma children - Alin, Beniamin, and Dana - as they struggle to break the barriers of segregation, candidly challenging entrenched stereotypes and trying to make the best of the cards dealt to them by adults along the way. The film begins in 2006, as the children are moved from a dead-end segregated school on the outskirts of Targu Lapus, Romania, into a mainstream school in the center of town, where they will learn together with Romanians. Once in the mainstream school, the children's hopes and optimism are met with low expectations and further isolation.
Short over four years, OUR SCHOOL film illuminates the day-to-day workings of race relations anywhere in the world through the deceptively distant world of "Gypsies" and Transylvanian peasants and acts as a primary document on how policies and principles play out on the ground. By telling a compelling human story that is part of a broader rights movement, OUR SCHOOL seeks to mobilize new energies at a moment that is ripe for change, when Europe finally has its Brown vs. Board of Education moment.
“A moving dedication to Roma people, chronicling their incredible resilience and character in the face of perpetual segregation and discrimination.”
– Huffington Post
“Moving and galvanizing, this quietly observed yet explosive documentary could be exhibit A in another law suit.”
– FilmForward
“Absorbing, even-keeled pic carries echoes of Michael Apted’s groundbreaking ‘Up’ series.”
– Variety
