Fuocoammare, dir. Gianfranco Rosi

Awarded the Golden Bear Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, Gianfranco Rosi’s masterful documentary focuses on Lampedusa, a small Island located between Africa and Europe. Belonging to Italy, Lampedusa is caught in the middle of the refugee crisis as each year 150 000 African asylum seekers reach the Island. Hoping to escape their war-torn and economically unstable countries, many of them do not make the crossing alive. Their makeshift boats and rotten rafts often sink, depriving hundreds of people of life.

An honest, touching and nuanced portrait of the world many of us would rather turn a blind eye to. This is an important and indispensable film, praised by viewers and critics alike, including Meryl Streep, Jury President of the 66th Berlinale International Film Festival: “It’s a daring hybrid of captured footage and deliberate storytelling that allows us to consider what documentary can do.”

The screening accompanies the Profesor Zbigniew Hołda Award Gala.