Country: Italy
Year: 2009
Duration: 6'
ONLY THIS SEA “I met many young Somalis and Sudanese who live in difficult
“All that’s missing is only this sea,” say the people who dream
of landing on our coast and making their way to Torino, even though
they know that they only have a 50 per cent chance of surviving the
Mediterranean crossing. A group of Somali, Sudanese and Ethiopian
political refuges made it and now live in an old, abandoned clinic
without heating in Turin. For those who aren’t as “lucky,” all that
remains is a commemoration ceremony celebrated by an imam.
The same kind of ceremony that was held in memory of a few whose
bodies were recovered after a 2007 crossing.
conditions in Torino, where they are squatters in an old abandoned
clinic. But their strength and determination to make a life in the West
gives them the energy to carry on. They told me about their crossing
and how they try not to make the trip in the company of siblings or
cousins because they know there is only one possibility: alive or dead.
They have every right to be welcomed as political refugees and instead
they are losing their life on our sea.”
Biography
film director
Rossella Schillaci
Rossella Schillaci (Turin, Italy, 1973) received her master’s degree in 2000 in
visual anthropology from the University of Manchester. She later followed directing courses with Daniele Segre and Abbas Kiarostami and worked as assistant director on RAI and Mediaset productions. In 2006, her mediumlength film Pratica e Maestria won the Bartok prize at the Bilan du film
etnographique in Paris and the following year won first prize at the Warsaw
Film Festival. In 2007 she also made the documentary Viesh/Canto, which
screened at the Torino Film Festival and won various prizes, including the Prix
Jean Rouch in Paris. Her preceding film, La Fiuma - Incontri sul Po e dintorni,
won a Special Mention at Torino’s Festival CinemAmbiente. She is now working as a director and writer for television programs and documentaries
with the production company Azul.
FILMOGRAFIA
filmografia essenziale/
essential filmography
Pratica e Maestria (mm, doc., 2005), Vjesh/Canto (mm, doc., 2007),
La Fiuma - Incontri sul Po e dintorni (doc., 2008), Solo questo mare
(cm, doc., 2009).
Cast
& Credits
regia/director
Rossella Schillaci
fotografia/cinematography
Roberto Greco,
Rossella Schillaci
montaggio/film editing
Fulvio Montano
musica/music
Ivana Messina
suono/sound
Sonia Portoghese
produzione/production
Azul
coproduzione/
coproduction
Clac
Rossella Schillaci
fotografia/cinematography
Roberto Greco,
Rossella Schillaci
montaggio/film editing
Fulvio Montano
musica/music
Ivana Messina
suono/sound
Sonia Portoghese
produzione/production
Azul
coproduzione/
coproduction
Clac
