Tony Gatlif, the French director of more than 20 films that mostly concentrated on celebrating Roma culture across the world, has died aged 77.<\/p>\n
His family said in a statement to AFP that Gatlif died on Wednesday of \u201ca health issue\u201d while working on a \u201chistorical film project\u201d in Arles in Provence, France<\/a>. \u201cThe beauty of his films, his generosity, his joy, his poetry, and his love of music will remain with us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement, from his wife, children and grandchildren wished him \u201cLatcho Drom\u201d, a Roma phrase meaning \u201csafe journey\u201d.<\/p>\n Latcho Drom is also the title of Gatlif\u2019s breakthrough 1993 film, a celebration of Roma music that moves from India to Spain, and which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes film festival that year.<\/p>\n Gatlif had more success in 1997 with Gadjo Dilo, which featured Romain Duris as a Frenchman who is searching for a Roma singer in Romania; it won a Silver Leopard at the Locarno film festival and a C\u00e9sar award for best original music.<\/p>\n \u2018His joy, his poetry, and his love of music will remain with us forever\u2019 \u2026 Latcho Drom. Photograph: Handout\/HANDOUT<\/p>\n Gatlif was born Michel Dahmani in 1948 in Algeria, of part Berber and part Roma heritage. He left Algeria for France in 1960 during the Algerian war of independence and had a tough life as a rootless teenager, telling AFP: \u201cI used to be violent; you didn\u2019t want to mess with me; I was a bad kid \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t listen to anyone; to me, adults \u2013 everyone \u2013 were enemies.\u201d He changed his name to Gatlif, after a park in Algiers, after being stopped by the police as a 12-year-old.<\/p>\n