About the film

Jarmark Europa at Warsaw's Dziesieciolecia Stadium, was one of Eastern Europe's largest bazaars and a center for small trade that doesn't appear on any tax declarations. The traders came from a variety of countries in the former Soviet Union. They transported their goods to Warsaw or other cities west of the ex- USSR in unmistakable bags. In Russian, these traders are known as “chelnoki”. The word “chelnok” means “weaver's shuttle” and graphically describes their peripatetic lifestyle. Most of them have exchanged their settled existences for a life of constant movement between their hometown and the bazaar. Many were academics who earned too little to survive. Others were unemployed or retired. The “chelnoki” were pioneering entrepreneurs in a changing society. It is remarkable that it is mainly women who prop up their families in this way…