Overcoming distances and differences through the universal language of cinema, to create aggregation, intercultural communication and interactions: this is the exhibition “Distinguishing features: migrant” organized by Kola nutan Asti association that promotes the social inclusion of migrant citizens, managing a language laboratory that is, at the same time, a school of Italian and an intercultural space.
“After two years of hiatus, the curtain rises again on our film review – he underlines Gabriella Sanlorenzo, president of the association – Although the period is really sad for the new war conflicts that are added to other antecedents, no less serious and unresolved, through the universal language of cinema we can explore current issues, today more than ever. In this fifth edition we bring to the screen the stories of men and women who have made their lives a fight against injustice. It is not easy to unhinge preconceptions, to pursue ideals and to fight. But there are life stories that show how much this is possible: our review wants to tell them ».
They are stories of people who struggle «united by the desire to subvert a situation and a traditional order passively accepted by the social, political and cultural context in which they live». Not an easy task “because those who fight are always in the minority”: “The only thing that is not subject to the law of the majority is one’s conscience – they explain from the association – for this reason, men and women have decided to rebel and take sides with part of the weakest “.
With these premises, the bill proposes 5 films from the world: from tonight to April 27, on Wednesdays at the Cinema Lumière, at 8.45 pm with free admission. The review is organized with the support of CSVAA, with Amnesty International of Asti, Acli, Pastoral Office of Migrants Diocese, Rete Asti Cambia and Rete Welcoming Asti.
Wednesday 6 April
It starts with «Nasrin» at Jeff Kaufman. The the film was secretly shot in Iran by women and men who risked arrest to make it happen. It is a portrait of the human rights activist and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh he was born in Iranian women’s rights movement. Nasrin has long fought for the rights of women, children, religious minorities, journalists, artists, and those sentenced to death. In June 2018, during filming, she was arrested for representing women protesting against the mandatory hijab law in Iran: she was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. The participation of Irene Venturino, Clio Marasso and Simona Franzino of Amnesty International is expected.
The next appointments
The April 13 it will be the turn of the short film «My father’s Naples» by the director Alessia Bottone, present in the room. Through the story of his father Giuseppe, who emigrated from Naples, he leads us to reflect on the theme of escape and on the fear of the unknown that unites Italian emigrants of the last century with migrants aboard the boats of today. In the same evening there will be the documentary by Luciano Attinà, «Limbo’s Fragment» tells the now destroyed refugee camp of Moria, on the island of Lesbos, from the point of view of the Italian-Moroccan activist Nawal.
The following week, with “The great green wall”, director Jared P. Scott will talk about the project of the United Nations Convention to combat desertification: to create a green wall from Senegal to Ethiopia to reforest the Sahel and the Sahara by covering trees 100 million hectares of land. Appointment on April 20with the participation of Dennis Bejarano (Asti Cambia network) and Francesca Moro (Fridays For Future).
Last stop on April 27 with «Libero» by Michael Toesca. In the Val Roia divided between France and Italy, dozens of migrants try to cross the border every day in search of a better life. But in this limbo divided between two states, immigration policies make it impossible to enter French territory: Cédric Herrou, a farmer who for years has offered hospitality to migrants, in 2017 was accused of favoring illegal immigration, later recognized as not guilty in 2021 on the basis of the principle of brotherhood. Silvia Massara, an activist on the border (Fraternità refuge, Massi di Oulx) will participate.