Io Capitano tells the story of two likeable teenagers attempting to migrate from Senegal to Europe.  Its screenplay was constructed by distinguished Italian writer-director Matteo Garrone (whose 2008 smash hit Gomorrah was also screened by WFC) from testimonies of migrant survivors.   Rejecting a documentary style, he makes their journey a contemporary Odyssean epic; magic realist touches and lavish cinematography invest it with the quality of a fairytale.  He compares the main character (played by Senegalese TikTok star Seydou Sarr) to Collodi’s Pinocchio: both “naive, pure and innocent” boys who set out to see the world, only to discover its inherent dangers and violence.

As part of Garrone’s commitment to telling the story from the migrant point of view,  the film is in Wolof, the most widely spoken language in Senegal; this required the script to be translated from Italian into French, and then orally passed on to the cast.  Garrone directed the actors according to their vocal tone and sound, trusting the interpreter to confirm that they were “more or less” speaking the words of the script. He shot the film chronologically (which he considers helpful to actors and particularly important when, as with Io Capitano, working with non-professionals); and didn’t show the two boys the script in advance, making every filming day a journey and adventure for them, as well as their characters.

Io Capitano premiered at the Venice Film Festival to great acclaim and multiple awards, and went on to sweep the board at the David di Donatello Awards, the Italian Academy Awards. Although nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar, it was overshadowed by Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest (Garrone blamed this on a poor awards season marketing campaign by the film’s American distributor).

“During any other awards year this emotive migrant drama would have scooped every best international film gong going … Garrone’s most accomplished movie since Gomorrah.” Kevin Maher, The Times