Jonas Carpignano’s Debut Film

Last year was definitely marked by the migrant crisis and it seems that it will continue to occupy the headlines for a long time. In a sea of bad news and sensationalist headlines, rare are the people that have managed to show us the other side of the story. We will have the opportunity to watch a story about the Syrian crisis on film and filmmakers have already started to tackle a problem that until recently seemed faraway and abstract.

In his debut film Mediterranea, Jonas Carpignano charts the death-defying struggle of African migrants as they risk everything to start a new life in Europe. He was inspired by the racist incidents in the town of Rosarno in Southern Italy in 2010. Carpignano decided to go there and learn more about the problem. In Rosarno, he met Koudous Seihon from Burkina Faso, whose life story he based his film on. Together with a close friend from Burkina Faso, Seihon determined to make it to Italy in order to find work and provide for their families back home. The film was premiered in Cannes and went on winning the best film awards on the festivals in Cairo, Zurich and Stockholm, while Seihon received praises for his acting debut.

Another film about the lives of migrants was awarded the Golden Palm in Cannes - Dheepan. Antonythasan Jesuthasan was member of the Tamil Tigers as a child and took part in the civil war in Sri Lanka. Dheepan is his second film role and, in his words, half of the film is based on his actual life. Sivadhasan is a Tamil Tiger soldier during the last days of the Sri Lankan Civil War. After the armed conflict resolves he decides to move to France to take a fresh chance at life. However, in order to secure political asylum, he is given the passport of a dead man, Dheepan, and pairs with people he barely knows posing as his family. Along with his supposed wife, Yalini and his supposed 9-year-old daughter, Illayaal, they get on a ship bound for Paris. Upon arrival, he starts building a new life in a northeastern suburb of Paris, where he quickly confronts a local gang