FIRE AT SEA (FUOCOAMMARE) Masters in Conversation

As part of the inaugural World Cinema Masters in Conversation section at AFI FEST, renowned documentarian Gianfranco Rosi will sit down with Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera for an in-depth conversation about one of the year’s most lauded documentaries, FIRE AT SEA.

Twelve-year-old Samuele lives on an island in the Mediterranean, far away from the mainland. Like all boys of his age, he does not always enjoy going to school. He would much rather climb the rocks by the shore, play with his slingshot or mooch around the port. But his home is not like other islands. For years, it has been the destination of men, women and children trying to make the crossing from Africa in boats that are far too small and decrepit. The island is Lampedusa, which has become ground zero for the flight of refugees to Europe and a symbol of the hope and fate of hundreds of thousands of emigrants fleeing dire living conditions. These people long for peace, freedom and happiness, and yet so often only their dead bodies are pulled out of the water. Thus, every day, the inhabitants of Lampedusa are bearing witness to the greatest humanitarian tragedy of our times. With tenderness and a nocturnal grandeur, Rosi captures the resiliency at the core of humanity.