Terraferma

About the film

An Italian fishing family on the small island of Linosa faces a fateful choice, when it encounters a raft with African boat people in distress. It reports the raft's position to the coastguard, but as some of refugees are in the water, the family chooses to follow the law of the seas, saves them and sails to land. This choice puts the family in a conflict between the island's police and its own compassionate morality. 'Terraferma' is a film, which takes the pulse of some of the problems which Italy, and the rest of the continent, is facing as a result of the massive immigration from Africa. But most of all, the film is about what happens, when strict immigration rules come into conflict with what feels right to do when you are faced with another human in distress. The film is told in beautiful images, where the island's magnificent scenery and the carefree, dancing bathers stand in sharp contrast to the horrific scenes at night, when African refugees are struggling for their survival at sea.