“With Io Capitano, Italy’s official selection for the Academy Award® Best International Film category, Matteo Garrone, director of the landmark Neapolitan crime film Gomorrah, finds a story of bravery and heroism in the face of harrowing danger that’s equal to any classical epic or enchanting fairy tale. Musician-turned-actor Seydou Sarr gives an impressive performance as Seydou, a Senegalese teenager who lives in an over-crowded house with his mother and younger sisters. Along with his cousin Moussa (Moustapha Fall), Seydou has been working odd jobs and saving money, preparing for a move to Italy, with dreams of pursuing a music career. Along the way, they will contend with shakedowns from corrupt border guards, mistreatment from human traffickers, a dangerous and deadly crossing of the Sahara Desert, and imprisonment, abuse and modern-day slavery in Libya, before undertaking the final and most challenging step in their epic journey: a dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea in a rusty, dangerously overcrowded boat, with Seydou forced to navigate and pilot the ship himself. –Todd Hitchcock, AFI Fest
Oscar-nominated for Best International Feature.
