This Is Where I Sleep - Roxanna
2013 · 5m · Canada
Directed by Annick De Vries, Ernest Godin, Eza Paventi
Genres: coming-of-age, documentary, musical
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
In a settled Roma village in Romania, Roxanna sings and plays the transverse flute, hoping to become a travelling musician who shares Roma songs abroad.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A straightforward coming-of-age doc about a Roma girl with musical ambitions—it's exactly the kind of earnest, consensus-friendly portrait that makes me suspicious, though I'd watch it to see if the transverse flute becomes something genuinely weird.
A formally measured documentary in the NFB tradition, letting Roxanna's voice and instrument speak within a carefully observed frame that respects both the subject and the weight of documenting cultural inheritance.
The choice to center the flute itself—to let its timbral distinctiveness and the physical specificity of her playing carry the emotional weight rather than heavy-handed narration—is what transforms a modest five minutes into something that breathes.