At the peak of the refugee crisis, Italian authorities seized a refugee rescue ship “Iuventa” operated by a German charity over some allegations about its association with Libyan smugglers. It became a hot potato across Europe and generated controversies and debate. Michele Cinque’s documentary “Iuventa” follows the ship in its mission to save the lives of migrants, mostly African who were embarking on cheaply made boats through Libya.
It's a complex story, capturing both the drama of the rescues and the political awakening of the young protagonists and its accusation of being a 'taxi service' for smugglers. “The issue of the refugee crisis is pertinent for every European citizen because the fundamental principles of Europe as a union are experiencing a big crisis while more people flee to Europe. The public opinion is polarised on this issue and politicians create their election campaign and their success on a diffuse fear of the immigration invasion,” said Michele, who was in the Capital recently for the film’s Delhi premiere at the Budding Italian Directors Film Festival at the India Habitat Centre.
Excerpts:
What intrigued you to make a film on immigration?
I don’t see ‘Iuventa’ as a film on immigration. I see it as a film about Europe and its dreams, the hopes of the youth that clashed with reality, and also a film about how we can change the world today or at least give it a try. I took the decision to start this film because of the protagonists. In 2015, this group of young students from Germany who founded the NGO Jugend Rettet (youth on rescue), with no experience, with the money gathered through a crowdfunding campaign had something that I didn’t see in my generation which was the profound belief in an idea and the will to fight for it. It was the starting point.
What were the challenges in making such a film that can generate criticism within the country and the continent? How did you tackle those issues?
It’s a long story full of challenges. When I started shooting ‘Iuventa’, it was June 2016 and the NGO vessels in the Mediterranean sea were still seen as a positive sign . It was after spring 2017 that the story became a hot potato. I did not expect that the people around me can take such a dramatic twist. When the Iuventa was impounded for an investigation by the Procura di Trapani on aiding illegal immigration, the criminalisation process started.
And since then all the NGO vessels that once operated in the central Mediterranean sea ended up on the radar of the Italian authorities. At that point, the film became much more controversial and very much linked to the current events. This is a good boost for a film but of course, it is also problematic. We experienced massive media attention in Italy and Germany but as ‘Iuventa’ is a very honest film we never got personal attacks. I think personally that the role of artists in a democratic society is to be wisely controversial to generate positive debate and changes.
What is your view on the refugee crisis in Europe and how can filmmaking contribute in it in a positive way?
I personally think that it is not a short term crisis. With the escalation of fundamentalism in Africa and the Middle East and the dramatic change that climate changes will bring to Africa, this is a long term problem that requires the strength of a united European Union to find together a long term solution which respects human rights. Filmmaking is a strong form of art that has the power to force the audience to stare at it for 90 minutes. It has the power to grip you to a story without just sticking to the facts. It makes you empathise and definitely boost attention on many urgent social issues that concern our present and future.
What brought you to documentary filmmaking?
I did my first short film in high school and my second one was actually shot in India when I was 19 years old. I love India and I have seen it from North to South. I took up documentary film-making because I felt it could have a social impact.
In today's world, where journalism lacks funding to go deep into dangerous investigations, where important stories and lives of people worldwide remain untold, there is a need of courageous documentary filmmakers to make us open our eyes on untold stories and make us understand the world we live in and its complexity.
How according to you, documentary filmmaking has taken a shape in the age of digital distribution?
The movie industry has been partly democratised with the digital boom as nowadays doing a film is more affordable and this is especially tough for documentary filmmaking. Today you can do a film alone on a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea with no production support and the quality of budget cameras is good enough to reach proper distribution network (as for Iuventa). On the distribution side, we have Netflix and similar brands that potentially can create an instantaneous and capillary distribution of every audiovisual project in a way that was impossible to imagine a decade ago.
