Gipsy Queen
Co-Presented with Films at the MFAH and Goethe Pop Up Houston
with director Hüseyin Tabak and actress Alina Serbanon
Join Houston Cinema Arts Society, Films at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston International Sports Film Festival, and Goethe Pop Up Houston for a special week-long virtual screening of Gipsy Queen from May 21st to May 27th, followed by a virtual discussion with the film's director Hüseyin Tabak and actress Alina Serbanon, moderated by Sean Nam.
Tickets are $10, with a $2 discount for HCAS and MFAH Film Buff Members.
KINO! Germany NOW! 2021 Discover New Talent is presented by the German Film Office, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut and German Films.
Charismatic single mother Ali works herself to the bone as a cleaner at the Ritze nightclub in Hamburg so that her two children can have the opportunities inherent in a German life and education. Long ago, as a promising young boxer, Ali was the pride and joy of her father and the Romanian Roma community, but she was disowned after bearing children out of wedlock. One night, Ali discovers the boxing ring in the basement of the Ritze, and it brings back memories. Ritze owner and former boxer Tanner recognizes her talent, and as she starts to box again, she sees the chance of a better life… but at what price?
| Country, Year | Germany, 2019 |
|---|---|
| Director | Hüseyin Tabak |
| Writer | Hüseyin Tabak |
| Cast | Alina Serban, Tobias Moretti, Irina Kurbanova |
| Producer | Danny Krausz |
| Language | German |
| Runtime | 112 MINS, SECS |
| Genre | Narrative |
| Event Type | Film |
Special Guests
Hüseyin Tabak
Hüseyin Tabak was born in Lemgo, Germany in 1981. From 2006 to 2012 he studied directing and screenwriting at the Vienna Film Academy with Michael Haneke. His filmography as a writer-director includes the features Your Beauty is Worth Nothing (2012) and Gipsy Queen (2019) and the documentaries Kick Off (2010) and The Legend of the Ugly King (2017).
Alina Serban
Alina Serban is the winner of Best Actress Award at the German Actors Guild Awards 2020 for her leading role in Gipsy Queen, a nominee for Best Actress of the German Film Awards 2020 and the representative of Romania at The Cannes International Film Festival 2018 for her leading role in Alone at My Wedding. The first one in her family to graduate high-school, she succeeded to graduate the Tisch School of the Arts in New York and obtained a master’s from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, becoming an award-winning actress and the first Roma woman theatre and film director of Romania. For her first leading role in cinema, Serban stars in Marta Bergman’s feature film Alone at My Wedding, which premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2018 and earned her several Best Actress awards. She also stars as a boxer in Huseyin Tabak’s Gipsy Queen, a German-Austrian production. For her performance in Gipsy Queen she won the ‘Best Actress’ award at POFF Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn 2019, the ‘Best Actress’ award at The German Actors Guild Awards was nominated for the German Film Academy Award - LOLA. As a playwright, Serban pioneered Roma feminist political theatre, with three plays to her name by the age of 29, becoming the first Roma woman director to have a play included in the permanent repertoire of a state theatre in Romania in 2018. In 2020, Serban made her debut as a filmmaker with Letter of Forgiveness- the first film about the Roma slavery written and directed from a Roma perspective.
Sean Nam
Sean Nam is a writer based in New York City. He is a former boxing beat reporter for USA Today and a contributor to Cineaste magazine, The Dublin Review of Books, and The Brooklyn Rail, among others. In 2017, he co-programmed the two-part Boxing on Film series at Anthology Film Archives. He is a full member and secretary of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His first book, a true crime story about a boxer, is set to be published later this year.