Matteo Garrone, who is a two-time Cannes jury prizewinner with “Gomorrah” in 2008 and “Reality” in 2012, is set to be in competition in Venice for the first time with his immigration-themed drama “Io Capitano.”
Shot over 13 weeks in Senegal, Italy and Morocco with a cast of non-professional actors, the Italian auteur’s new film – the title for which translates to “Me Captain” – narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe. It depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.
“‘Io Capitano’ was born from the idea of telling the epic journey of two young Senegalese migrants who cross Africa, with all its dangers, to pursue a dream called Europe,” Garrone said in a statement to PvNew. “To make the film, we started from the true testimonies of those who lived through this inferno — and we decided to position the camera from their point of view to tell this contemporary Odyssey from their angle, in a sort of reverse shot with respect to images that we are used to seeing from our Western perspective — in an attempt to give voice, finally, to those who usually don’t have one.”
The film is based on an original idea by Garrone, who wrote the script with Massimo Gaudioso, Massimo Ceccherini and Andrea Tagliaferri.
Budgeted at roughly €8 million ($8.8. million), “Io Capitano” is produced by Garrone’s own company, Archimede, with RAI Cinema and Belgium’s Tarantula Film as a co-producer. The drama is backed by Pathé, which is handling world sales through Pathé International.
“Io Capitano” follows Garrone’s more recent works “Tale of Tales” (2015) and “Dogman” (2018), which both launched from Cannes, and his “Pinocchio” adaptation which launched from Berlin in 2020. It marks Garrone’s first collaboration with ace cinematographer Paolo Carnera, who lensed the “Gomorrah” TV series. The film’s below-the-line team also comprises Garrone’s regular editor Marco Spoletini and frequent production designer Dimitri Capuani, whose work has been instrumental in shaping Garrone’s fable-like vision for “Tale of Tales” and the signature visual tones he displayed in “Dogman” and “Pinocchio.”
RAI Cinema’s 01 Distribution will release “Io Capitano” in Italian theaters on Sept. 7.
