2024 OSCARS BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE NOMINEE
"Io Capitano takes a news story that’s mostly about numbers, and puts a human face on it." —Washington Post
"Io Capitano is as unflinching as it is robust with empathy." —Los Angeles Times
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.