The documentary was presented last night at the Iris cinema in Messina The Years We Haveve Been Nowhere, a film about today’s deportations to give voice to all the families who are sent back – and therefore condemned – to their countries of origin. Created by the activist, writer and director Lucio Cascavilla and by the director and producer Mauro Piacentini, the work has been on the big screen since September 27th and was produced by Survivors Fighters Production and Mauzedao Production.
Filmed in Africa (Sierra Leone), it features the participation of Mike Duff (Australian videomaker with over 15 years of career and collaborations with international publications such as BBC ABC and Al Jazeera) and Olivia Godding (model, actress, and successful entrepreneur in Freetown, who appears as a witness in the documentary, as a migrant).
Active part of the project too Nadia Rubiano and Roberto Sommella (video editors), Nina Krajcinovic (journalist for the Slovenian newspaper DELO, specialized in socio-cultural issues), Markadams Kamara (emigrated from Sierra Leone in the 1990s, settled in Europe to be deported back to his country of origin, where he dedicated himself to theatrical activity and now deals with accounting), Abdulay Daramy (emigrated to Europe and deported to Sierra Leone, where he became an activist), Antonio Rignanese (Digital Strategist) and the Messina area Antonino Corica (agent specializing in communications for the European Commission in Brussels, who collaborates on the project as executive producer, screenwriter, translator and Communication Strategist).
The underlying theme of the film are the stories of Sulemain, Fatima Kamakuye and Patrick who left Sierra Leone in search of a better future, managing to build new lives and families in Europe and the United States. But, due to bureaucratic problems and some administrative infractions, they are convicted and torn away from their families to be sent back to their country of origin, where they have now lost contact with their old friends and family. The Years We Have Been Nowhere is a cry of pain and denunciation, a project that wants to give voice to a desperation that, too often, remains deaf to most. ”Because – explain the authors – opposing deportations is impossible; but opposing brutality, allowing deported men and women to maintain their dignity, is civility”.