The Carny

Nena is a nomadic carny, shrewd, witty, of few words. Crossing places plagued by racial and ethnic wars, she brings the joy of the carousel on which all are allowed, all are equal and welcome. During her wanderings along Yugoslavia she meets Katarina called Carì, a Roma girl. The two immediately befriend each other, and the carny decides to take the little girl with her first to Croatia and then to Bosnia to raise her as a daughter, teaching her the ethics of carousing. Now that Carì is grown and close to becoming a mother, she must keep the carny ethic alive. Nena has mysteriously disappeared just as she had appeared in Carì's life. Katarina wants to fulfill her promise to the woman who has been like a mother to her: to rebuild the merry-go-round, to reestablish its ethos. To return to flying those colorful little horses that had brought so much joy and hope to children who had grown up too fast, and to their parents forced to face the danger of war every day. Katarina retraces her memories, her nomadic years among cities plagued by bombs and racism, by plots, violence and horrors inexplicable to those who, as a child and then as a teenager, search for themselves and their real parents, clinging to the mysterious carousel. May Nena herself be her real mother?