French film director Tony Gatlif, who has died at the age of 77, was renowned for his focus on Roma communities and their rich musical traditions. Often called "cinema's Gypsy auteur," Gatlif directed more than 20 films between 1975 and 2025, though his debut, La Tête en Ruine (The Ruined Head), was never officially released. Early in his career, Gatlif faced significant challenges in securing funding and distribution, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. His breakthrough came with Latcho Drom (1993), a meditative travelogue that blends staged musical performances in contemporary Roma communities across several countries with historical reenactments. The title, meaning "good journey" in Romany, captures the long migration of Roma people from Asia to Western Europe, conveyed through images and music without voiceover or text. The film is described as an idealized portrait of the Roma, highlighting both the discrimination they face and their cultural artistry. Following the success of Latcho Drom, Gatlif continued to direct films at intervals, with his most recent being Ange (2025). His work often centered on Roma communities or road movies where protagonists travel across France, Eastern Europe, or North Africa. His 2004 film Exils earned him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. Gatlif was born Boualem Dahmani in Algiers, then part of France, to a Kabyle (Berber) father and a mother of Spanish and Roma heritage. His family lived in a shantytown on the outskirts of the city until 1960, when they relocated to southern France amid the Algerian war of independence. As a troubled adolescent, Gatlif engaged in fights and antisocial behavior, leading to his placement in a reform school. He adopted the name Tony Gatlif, taking the surname from a local park in Algiers, to avoid police in the Camargue region. A meeting with actor Michel Simon in 1966 led to Gatlif enrolling in a dramatic arts course in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He worked as an actor while writing scripts for his films. His second film, La Terre au Ventre (The Belly of the Earth, 1978), focused on a young mother and her four daughters dispossessed from Algeria. His third film, Corre, Gitano (Run, Gypsy, 1981), was filmed in Spain and centered on a young Roma man accused of a crime he did not commit. Les Princes (1983), about a petty, patriarchal Roma criminal living in a French housing estate, brought Gatlif some attention, but it was Latcho Drom that established him as a filmmaker of note. The film won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes in 1993, and a growing interest in Gypsy music helped build an international audience for Gatlif’s work. Gadjo Dilo (Crazy Foreigner, 1997) focuses on a young French man who drifts into a Romanian Roma community, begins a relationship with a Roma woman, and witnesses an anti-Roma pogrom. It provided career-defining roles for Romain Duris and Rona Hartner and was well-received. Gatlif cast its two young stars in his next film, Je Suis Né d’Une Cigogne (1998, Children of the Stork), a road movie heavily influenced by Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960s films, which received negative reviews and poor box office. Despite such setbacks, Gatlif continued to make films, often focusing on Roma communities or road narratives, even as his audience dwindled in recent years. In 2015, he was made a chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. He died in Arles, southern France, while working on a film, and is survived by his wife, Delphine, and three children, Elsa, Valentin, and Lucia.