A compelling and moving feature documentary that explores the experience of migration through the lives of three extraordinary characters - a lawyer, a policeman, and a student - who belong to one of the Britain's largest but least understood minority communities. Petr Torák, Denisa Gannon and Ondrej Oláh are Roma who settled in the UK to escape from racial persecution in Central Europe. Although they came over twenty years ago, they still feel connected to their native Slovakia and the Czech Republic. By using the first ever British-Roma film crew, Leaving to Remain was able to gain unparalleled access to a Roma community. When Britain went into Covid lockdown, the three subjects of the film were guided and encouraged to become film-makers themselves. With remarkable candour, they revealed the impact of Covid, and how the aftermath of Brexit has forced them to reassess their identities. What emerged is a quietly radical film offering something completely new to British viewers, who are unlikely ever to have encountered Roma on British screens before: a compelling and nuanced portrayal of a community which raises bigger questions about the identity of post-Brexit Britain.
