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The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and the Block Cinema present a screening of the movie Io Capitano by Matteo Garrone (2023). The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with with Professors Domietta Torlasco and Massimiliano Delfino of Northwestern University, and Professor Federico Faloppa of the University of Reading.

In this acclaimed film which won top directing and acting prizes at the Venice Film Festival, writer-director Garrone presents a “reverse shot” of the immigration experience while unfurling an epic, cinematographically magnificent odyssey from West Africa to Italy. The story is told through the mind’s eye and experiences of two Senegalese teenagers living in Dakar who yearn for a brighter future in Europe. Yet between their dreams and reality lies a treacherous journey through a labyrinth of checkpoints, the scorched Saharan desert, a fetid North African prison and the vast waters of the Mediterranean where thousands have died packed inside vessels barely fit for passage.

“A grand, honestly felt emotional sweep… Garrone’s most robust, purely satisfying filmmaking since his international breakthrough with Gomorrah 15 years ago'” -Variety