About the Film

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.

The Reviews Are In

"Garrone’s film has a three-dimensional and devastatingly realized human soul at its core. The world could do with paying attention to Seydou’s story and the millions of other real ones like it."

Leila Latif, indieWire

"For Garrone, this proves an energizing shift in focus, yielding his most robust, purely satisfying filmmaking since his international breakthrough with “Gomorrah” 15 years ago."

Guy Lodge, Variety