Denisa from the Czech Republic in Leaving to Remain. She has become the first lawyer in Britain of Roma heritage

LEAVING TO REMAIN
Directed by Mira Erdevicki
Certificate: PG
☆☆☆☆☆

THE lives of Roma who have moved to Britain – often to escape persecution in eastern Europe – is the subject of this heartfelt and revealing documentary.

In Leaving To Remain, we are treated to an intimate portrait of families who have settled in the UK, their reasons for moving abroad, what they left behind and the challenges they face building new lives.

The project began as a study on the children of Roma people who have been brought up in a multicultural society with access to mainstream education – something many Roma in eastern Europe are denied.

The aim – to consider how inclusive education can bring people from different cultures together – then expanded to look at wider issues of how the individual can thrive if the conditions are good.

We meet Petr, who is the UK’s first Roma police officer who specialised in modern slavery and people trafficking. We learn he travelled from the Czech Republic after his family were victimised by skinheads and the police would not do anything about it.

Denisa, also from the Czech Republic, had two university degrees but could not find any work in her home nation. Instead, she travelled to Leicester and got a job as a cleaner. She has now trained as a lawyer, concentrating on social welfare law and is another trailblazer – she is the first lawyer in the UK of Roma heritage background.

We meet Ondrej from Slovakia. He was educated in a school for children with special educational needs in his home country – simply because of his ethnicity. He now works in a school as a teaching assistant.

This revealing, moving documentary was shot with an Anglo-Roma crew and shooting began just after the Brexit referendum.

The Roma community has long been one of the most exploited and vilified in Britain – and the effect of Brexit emerges as a crucial storyline in their lives.
Director Erdevicki’s work has produced a brilliant piece of contemporary social history, casting a light on a community that is often misunderstood, targeted, and whose rights are never secure.

Watching this shows the trials they face and the talents and skills they develop to cope. It is a landmark piece on the lives of Gypsy and Roma communities and shows how migration brings something beautiful to the lucky host country.