Mediterranean Region: Sea Documentary and Italian Island

mediterranean region: Opens Friday at TIFF Bell Lightbox, according to Toronto Star. PGCloser to Africa than Sicily, the Italian island of Lampedusa has long played a key role in the ongoing refugee crisis besetting Europe and the Mediterranean region. By Bruce DeMara Entertainment Reporter Thu., Oct. 20, 2016 Fire at Sea Documentary directed by Gianfranco Rosi. 108 minutes. In fact, as filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi notes at the outset, the tiny windswept island has acted as a critical base of operations for the Italian navy and provided temporary refuge to more than 400,000 people from Africa and the war-torn Middle East for 20 years. It an intriguing and instructive approach. Article Continued Below But Rosi takes a very different storytelling tack in the documentary Fire at Sea, winner of this year Golden Bear prize at the Berlin Film Festival, juxtaposing the ordinary lives of Lampedusa citizens with those desperate enough to risk their lives on unsafe, overloaded crafts in the hope of a better life. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.