Pretty Dyana
A humorous look at the marriage of the Citroen 2CV and the Roma people.
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By Boris Mitic
It seems that many in the city of Belgrade, in Serbia & Montenegro, have fallen in love with ‘Dyana’. No – not the Princess who died tragically in a car accident in Paris. This Dyana is a bit in need of a makeover. But for some, she is still the stuff of dreams.
The rest of the world knows Dyana by another name, the Citroen 2CV.
The 2CV is an iconic French car designed “to carry two people and fifty kilos of potatoes at 60km/h”. It is, in the words of its inventors, “easy to maintain, and able to drive over a ploughed field carrying a basket of eggs without breaking a single one”.
The dispossessed gypsies living in squatter camps around Belgrade have found other uses for the 2CV. They cannibalise their Dyanas until they resemble apocaliptic workhorses from a science fiction film.
The gypsies’ love affair with their 2cvs is deeply practical. Unfortunately, Belgrade police and residents do not hold the same high regard for these handy vehicles as their neighbours.
Boris Mitich’s film, Pretty Dyana, is an intimate, humorous look at the marriage of the 2CV and the Roma people.
This episode of Witness is scheduled to air on Tuesday April 8, 2008
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