The award-winning Roma filmmaker from France Tony Gatlif was a guest of honour at the forum, which involved the participation of other Roma professionals in the industry, including Katalin Barsony from Hungary.
Gatlif, whose latest film Indignados is on the Berlinale programme, said he had visited many Hungarian villages during the 1990s to see how the Roma live. He added that the situation of the Roma is depressing throughout Europe.
Gatlif said he first thought of making films for neglected audiences in France at age 15.
?Then I realised that this role involved a great responsibility?not only for this generation but also for the future,? he added.
Participants at the forum backed a plan to establish an independent international Roma film fund.
The forum was supported by the German Foreign Ministry.
The Hungarian director Bence Fliegauf?s feature Just The Wind, based on a series of murders of Roma in Hungary in 2008 and 2009, is competing at this year?s Berlinale.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
