Actress and singer Rona Hartner, known for her role in “Gadjo Dilo”, has died at the age of 50

Rona Hartner died of cancer in Toulon, announced the diocese and one of her friends.

Best Actress Award at Locarno for the film Gadjo Diloa popular singer on the electro-Balkan scene, the Franco-Romanian Rona Hartner, 50, died this Thursday, November 23 in Toulon (south of France), announced the diocese and one of her friends. “With great sadness, we learn that Rona Hartner, actress, singer, producer, very involved in the Toulon Christian artistic community, has left us,” wrote the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon on its Instagram page. “The bishop went to the hospital where she died this morning,” a spokesperson confirmed to AFP.

“She died this Thursday from cancer, she had lived in Toulon for around ten years, she was a very happy person, who tried to lift others up,” Alain Vignal, a history professor who was one of his friends, told AFP.

A generous personality

Born on March 9, 1973 in Bucharest, Rona Hartner notably played alongside French actor Romain Duris in the film Gadjo Dilo by Tony Gatlif in 1997, the story of a Frenchman going to Romania in search of a Roma singer. For this role, she won the acting prize at the Locarno festival (Switzerland).

“It’s heartbreaking for me, she was a wonderful person, very generous, in the game as in life. When she won a prize at Locarno, she took everything there had food to put it in a bag. The people of Locarno were offended, but when she went out, she gave everything to the poor. She was very generous.” Tony Gatlif told AFP. “For Gadjo Dilo, I really looked everywhere for an actress. I wanted someone like her. I’ve never seen actresses like that, someone who could dare to act like that, but she wasn’t vulgar. She gave”, he added.

Rona Hartner has worked in films with directors as different as Jean-François Stévenin (Mischka), James Ivory (The divorce) or Michael Haneke (The time of the wolf), and had just starred in Alexandre Arcady’s film, The Little Blond of the Casbah, released in theaters on November 15, 2023.

Musician

Musician and singer, Rona Hartner had also collaborated with star DJs of electro-Balkan music such as the German Shantel or DJ Tagada (Gypsy Therapy), as well as with filmmaker David Lynch for a series of pieces (You’re More Than That). In 2015, she signed the album The Balkan Gospelmixing Roma music, gospel and jazz.