Early 90s migrant documentary represents Albania in Venice festival

TIRANA, August 1 – La Nave Dolce, (The Sweet ship) a documentary featuring the story of the escape of thousands of Albanian migrants to Italy on an old merchant ship just before the collapse of the 47-year communist regime, is representing Albania in the Venice International Fim Festival.
Directed by Italy’s Daniele Vicari, the documentary, an Italian-Albanian production, will be featured in the Out of Competition – Special Events category.
Differently from other previous movies and documentaries on the mass exodus of Albanians to European countries in the early 90s, La Nave Dolce” has been conceived from an Italian perspective focusing on some of the protagonists of that time nowadays. “How do the protagonists view that event, how have they changed, and how they have integrated and converted into added value for the Italian society are some of the questions that are given an answer in the documentary.
“This is kind of ‘Mea Culpa’ the Italian society, which at a certain moment was not ready to welcome owes to these people,” says Ska-Ndal the Albanian film studio participating in the movie.
Most of the 20,000 migrants arriving in Italy’s Bari port in 1991 were deported.
The 69th Venice International Film Festival, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, will run at Venice Lido August 29th through September 8th, 2012, directed by Alberto Barbera.
The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote all the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance. The Festival includes retrospectives and homages to major figures as a contribution towards raising awareness of the history of cinema.