In 1939, after barely escaping the Nazis, a Gypsy family returns to Switzerland only to be torn apart by racial persecution in the benign guise of children's welfare. This fictionalized story of Jana, an eight-year-old Gypsy girl snatched from her parents and consigned to a life of orphanages and bleak foster homes, is based on a little-known chapter of Swiss history: From 1926 to 1972, the state-supported Pro Juventute, a children's aid foundation, forcibly removed some 700 Gypsy children from their families, in order to sever the ties with their culture and assimilate them to a "better way of life." The underlying aim was to preempt a new generation's caravans from following their nomadic traditions along Switzerland's country lanes.
Unfortunately the movie Children of the Open Road is not yet available on HBO Max.
Directing | Urs Egger | Director |
Costume & Make-Up | Sabina Haag | Costume Design |
Sound | Thomas Szabolcs | Sound |
Production | Johannes Bösiger | Producer |
Camera | Lukas Strebel | Director of Photography |
Production | Urs Egger | Producer |
Art | Kathrin Brunner | Art Direction |
Production | Peter Spoerri | Producer |
Writing | Johannes Bösiger | Writer |
Editing | Barbara Hennings | Editor |
Production | Peter Spoerri | Production Manager |