Friday, November 18 | 8 pm
Saturday, November 19 | 5:30 pm
Sunday, November 20 | 2 pm
Lampedusa is a small Italian island in the Mediterranean, a mere seventy miles from North Africa. One of the island’s six thousand residents, Samuele is a typical twelve-year-old boy who prefers to spend his time climbing on the rocky coastline with his best friend and shooting at birds with a homemade slingshot. Fire at Sea observes the quotidian daily affairs of Samuele and his fellow residents in this remote setting, while also presenting scenes from the island’s tragic source of contemporary fame: as the aquatic landing point for the African immigrants who have set out on homemade rafts in search of a better life in Europe. Leading Italian documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi (Sacro GRA) expertly constructs his major new achievement in non-fiction out of these parallel threads, creating a film that shows how such a large humanitarian tragedy can exist in the background of everyday life, without condemning the hardworking and sympathetic residents of the island. Fire at Sea screened in competition at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Golden Bear for Best Film.
Director Gianfranco Rosi 2016 Italy/France 108 minutes NR DCP
