PRETTY DYANA

That Citroën does not only produce cars for intellectual nostalgics, but also vehicles for everyday use, is well-known. Lesser known is the practical value of the Dyana, the successor of the Citroën 2CV. This documentary shows how a group of Roma on the outskirts of Belgrade makes additional use of the cars – by taking them apart and contriving them for their own purpose. What remains of the Dyane without chassis and panelling looks pretty much like the stuff the men and their teenage sons transport on the newly assembled cargo-bed: scrap metal. Upon closer obervation, one is astonished to find cigarette-lighters and radios beneath the freestanding steering-wheel, while the proud owner has salvaged the fuel-ignition from a Fiat. But as much energy and technical know-how as the men might expend on their mechanical mules – they still have to deal with the police. Every time one of them gets caught during a tour, they have to pay a fine – one of them even goes to prison. But they continue, since the recycled truck is part of their recycling-business, their livelihood. To a certain degree, the music used in the film – pop-songs with the name Diana in the title – expresses the unbroken will to survive of these families, who had to leave their home in the Kosovo because of the war in the former Yugoslavia. The Roma act open and unprejudiced towards the filmmakers, which creates a closeness that allows for a profound insight into a people barely tolerated by society.