The True Way Out

The time: 1990s. The place: Prague's ?i?kov district. A neighbourhood where hopelessness, drugs, alcohol, and fights are the everyday normal. Growing up in the local Roma community means you are destined to be just another misfit. However, the story of journalist Patrik Banga is strikingly different. It captures his life's journey from the Roma quarter to becoming a journalist in the Czech media. In a raw and very open style it depicts the reality of a teenage boy who encounters rejection, criminalization, racism, and police brutality at an early age. And he's looking for a real way out. Patrik Banga is a journalist, musician, and IT entrepreneur. Since 2007, he has worked in the newsroom of iDNES.cz, a news portal. He has also worked as a reporter for Czech Television's flagship evening news programme. He is one of the makers of the documentary film The Ghetto as a System / Ghetto jako systém (2012). His blog attracts over one million visitors. In 2022, he published his first book, Skute¿ná cesta ven.