When Borat Came To Town

A film about a small village in a big universe

A gypsy village is suddenly confronted with huge dilemmas after they are portrayed as backward people from Kazakhstan in the film Borat.

Carmen is 17 years old and lives in Glod, a small gypsy village where nothing happens, somewhere in the Romanian mountains. She works daily in the shop and pub of her father, and has an admirer from the village, Christi. But Carmen dreams of a future somewhere else, somewhere she can find her ideal husband and lead a fantastic and rich life. She watches Spanish soap operas on TV and tries to learn Spanish. At the same time she loves her family dearly. She realises she has to leave behind the people she cares about to make her dreams come true.

When a man called Borat and his film crew appear, the villagers cooperate on what they believe will be a documentary. Carmen's father and her grandfather appear in the film, but as nobody speaks English, they have no clue what the film really is about. As soon as the villagers find out the film makes a fool of them, pretending Glod to be Kazakhstan, they are outraged. Borat calls them 'whores', 'thieves' and 'abortionists'. They feel abused and discriminated.

When an American and a German lawyer arrive and persuade Carmen's father, her grandfather and the mayor to sue Twentieth Century Fox for USD$30 million, the atmosphere in the village changes tremendously. People start realising they might be rich soon and fantasize about what they want to do with all that money. Carmen's father wants to build a new bridge and a new church. The mayor wants to rename the village 'Boratville'. But at the same time aggression and greed reign supreme. The villagers distrust the lawyers and accuse Carmen's father of hypocrisy: is he sure he doesn't want the money for himself when he wins the case?

Carmen suddenly sees a promising future for herself: she will get rich and doesn't have to leave her family and friends. The village itself will become a lovely place to live. Marrying Christi is not that bad an option after all. The question remains: will the village win the case? How will this affect the life in Glod? And will Borat himself come to apologize?