Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare)

Showings

Rafael 2 Fri, Oct 14, 2016 8:30 PM
Century Larkspur 3 Sat, Oct 15, 2016 5:15 PM
Film Info
Section:World Cinema
Active Cinema
Country:Italy
France
Year:2016
Running Time:114 min.
Premiere Status:North American
Language:Italian
English
Director:Gianfranco Rosi
Producer:Donatella Palermo
Gianfranco Rosi
Serge Lalou
Camille Laemle
Roberto Ciccutto
Paolo Del Brocco
Martine Saada
Olivier Pere
Cinematographer:Gianfranco Rosi
Editor:Jacopo Quadri
Cast:Pietro Bartolo
Samuele Puccilo
Print Source:Kino Lorber
Note Writer:Rod Armstrong

Description

Samuele, an anxious young boy and slingshot aficionado with a lazy eye, is among the locals who takes a turn in the spotlight alongside migrants in Gianfranco Rosi’s beautiful and moving neorealist documentary. For the director, the small Sicilian island of Lampedusa acts as a focal point to address the European refugee crisis, a rocky and barren place that has become a primary entry for those fleeing war and other ravages in Africa. Fire at Sea shows the perils of these journeys—overcrowding, dehydration, and death—while avoiding emotional grandstanding or partisan politics. No hyperbolic voiceover or intrusive score here; just the undeniable, heart-wrenching facts of the situation. Fire at Sea, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, brilliantly juxtaposes the side-by-side relationship of Lampedusa's residents with the desperate people trying to reach her shores and leaves the viewer to make the subtle connections between the two.


Guest in attendance 10/14 & 10/15: Gianfranco Rosi (director)


With support from The Instituto Italiano di Cultura 

Additional Information


In 2008, Rosi’s Below Sea Level, shot in Slab City, California, and won the Orizzonti Award at the Venice Film Festival. In 2010, he shot the feature El Sicario - Room 164, a film-interview about a killer turned informer from the Mexican drug cartels and won the Fipresci Award at the Venice International film Festival and the Doc/It prize as the best documentary of the year. In 2013, Rosi made the documentary feature, Sacro GRA, and won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. In 2016, Rosi was awarded the Golden Bear for Fire at Sea at the Berlin Film Festival.