Arte has announced that ARTE France Cinéma and ARTE France will be funding two new cinema documentaries: “Beyond Lampedusa” by Italian director Gianfranco Rosi and “The Corridors of Power” by Israeli director Dror Moreh. Both focus on crises in today’s world.
Best known for “Below Sea Level” (2008), “El Sicario, Room 164” (2010) and “Sacro GRA” (Golden Lion at Venice in 2013), Gianfranco Rosi’s new documentary looks at what’s happening on the island of Lampedusa, the most southerly tip of Italy, which since the 1990’s has become the landing point for the massive influx of illegal immigrants from Africa. It is estimated that in twenty years more than 20,000 people have drowned during the crossing. According to Gianfranco Rosi, “Lampedusa is at the border of a Europe which now turns back those who are so desperate to flee war and famine that they accept the risk of drowning in that deepest of graves, the sea.” This Franco-Italian co-production (Les Films d’Ici, 21 Uno Stemal Film and Entertainment) should be ready in 2016.
After his major documentary “The Gatekeepers”, Dror Moreh’s new film follows key political leaders in Paris, Washington, London, Berlin, Moscow and Beijing, whose decisions at key moments of crisis have shaped their country and thus the course of history. “With them, in the light of their experience and analysis, I will try to understand the way in which decisions are made when confronted with crimes against humanity in various countries, in situations where the international community should not, I believe, have remained on the side-lines.” (Dror Moreh)
Source: communiqué de presse Arte du 11 mars 2015
