Country: Italy
Year: 2017
Duration: 94'
Amin and his sister Isoké live in a village of poor people (without electricity or water) in Sub-Saharan Africa. One day, a band of predators attack the village, burn their home, and kill parents and brothers. Left alone, the two children flee north to the desert, where they are rescued by a couple of archaeologists who take them to Libya. Here they are captured by a militia, after months of imprisonment, of violence and work as slaves, they succeed in getting on a boat that drives the anchor towards the unknown…
Biography
film director
Pasquale Scimeca
(Aliminusa, Palermo, Italy), after finishing high school in his hometown, moved to Florence, where he received his degree in humanities, and later traveled through Europe and Africa. During the 1980s he taught high school literature, until 1992, when he stopped teaching and dedicated himself to film. He has directed over twenty feature films, shorts, and documentaries, including Il giorno di San Sebastiano (1993), Placido Rizzotto (2000), which received the FEDIC Award in Venice, Gli indesiderabili (2003), La passione di Giosuè l’ebreo (2005), which won the UNESCO Award in Venice, Rosso Malpelo (2007); Malavoglia (2010) and Biagio (2014). In 2017 he presented Balon at the Torino Film Festival.
FILMOGRAFIA
La donzelletta (1989), Un sogno perso (1992), Echi e parole dal silenzio (cm, doc, 1992), Appunti per un film su Il giorno di san Sebastiano (doc, 1993), Nella tana del lupo (cm, doc, 1994), L'altra Sicilia: cento anni in rivolta (1994), Il giorno di San Sebastiano (1994), Viaggiu dulurusu (cm, 1995), Paolo Borsellino (cm, doc, 1995), I briganti di Zabut (1997), Viale dell'Idroscalo (cm, 1998), Placido Rizzotto (2000), Un altro mondo è possibile (doc, 2001), Sem Terra (doc, 2002), La primavera del 2002 - L'Italia protesta, l'Italia si ferma (doc, 2002), Firenze, il nostro domani (doc, 2003), Gli indesiderabili (2003), La mia valle (doc, 2004), La passione di Giosuè l'ebreo (2005), Rosso Malpelo (2007), Art. 26 (episodio del film All Human Rights for All, 2008), Il cavaliere Sole (doc, 2008), Malavoglia (2010), Convitto Falcone (cm, 2012), Biagio (2014), Balon (2017), Il pranzo di Francesco (co-regia con Luca Capponi, doc, mm, 2021).
Declaration
film director
“This is not a movie about emigration, but a movie about Africa. For years I saw the boats coming. I could talk with many refugees who told me about their stories. I watched debates on TV and, often, I cried (with anger) faced with miserable humanity of those who would kick them away as they were social lepers. That’s why I decided to go to Africa and try to figure out what’s going on. And, as life taught me, I filmed, with humility and compassion, what I saw.”
Cast
& Credits
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
David Koroma (Amin), Fatmata Kabia (Isokè), Vincenzo Albanese (Piero), Raffaella Esposito (Dora), Mohamed Djellouli (Walid), Ida Turay (Hamida), James Aruna (Jonny), Martha Kamara (Mata), Ida Turay (Hamida), Pu-Bundu Tarawallie (il nonno/grand-father), Mohamed Kanu (il padre/father), Rugiatu Fofanah (la madre/mother), Kalil Fofanah (il maestro/teacher), Saidù Fofanah (Saidù), Moses Fofanah (Moses) e gli abitanti del villaggio di/and the inhabitans of the village of Rochain Mende, Sierra Leone
produzione/production
Arbash
coproduzione/coproduction
Rai Cinema, Regione Sicilia Film Commission
**
contatti/contacts
Pasquale Scimeca, Linda Di Dio
arbash3@gmail.com
David Koroma (Amin), Fatmata Kabia (Isokè), Vincenzo Albanese (Piero), Raffaella Esposito (Dora), Mohamed Djellouli (Walid), Ida Turay (Hamida), James Aruna (Jonny), Martha Kamara (Mata), Ida Turay (Hamida), Pu-Bundu Tarawallie (il nonno/grand-father), Mohamed Kanu (il padre/father), Rugiatu Fofanah (la madre/mother), Kalil Fofanah (il maestro/teacher), Saidù Fofanah (Saidù), Moses Fofanah (Moses) e gli abitanti del villaggio di/and the inhabitans of the village of Rochain Mende, Sierra Leone
produzione/production
Arbash
coproduzione/coproduction
Rai Cinema, Regione Sicilia Film Commission
**
contatti/contacts
Pasquale Scimeca, Linda Di Dio
arbash3@gmail.com
