Tradra - Yesterday I became a Tinker

"Tradra - Yesterday I became a Tinker" is the title of a film I will be presenting at Ringve Museum tomorrow, as a supplement to the exhibition "Ja takk, begge deler! Music and national minorities". The film focuses on the Traveling people of Norway, also known as "Tater", "Romani" or in English: "Tinker" of the older migration, who arrived in Norway 500 years ago. Filmmaker Karoline Frogner spent several years collaborating with Travelers in making the film - among others with Laila Yrvum, who also collaborated in the "Ja takk..." exhibition, as well as performing for its opening in Trondheim last week.
The film follows Bjørn Granum, who discovers as an adult of his adoption - that he had been forcebly taken from his Traveler mother by the authorities while only a baby. While following Bjørn's search for identiy, the film also shows a cross-section of Traveler society in Norway, from music at summer campgrounds, through internment facilities and to the halls of parliament, where a number of restitution cases for government breaches of minority rights were being evaluated.
"Tradra - Yesterday I became a Tinker" was released for cinema in 2004. Today, it is available for sale on DVD with English subtitles.