Fear Death by Water: Representations of Migratory Space in Contemporary Italian Cinema

The migratory crisis that Italy and Europe are facing today is globally well-know. The continuous arrivals of migrants from the southern part of the Mediterranean has stressed the deficiencies of international migratory policies and, from a political point of view, is contributing to reinforce a xenophobic attitude in the population. This essay starts with the concept that images play a fundamental role in the visual economy of this mass migration. I intend to analyse the ways in which spaces of migrations are represented, and at the same time, shaped by contemporary Italian cinema. Analysing these images also offers an interrogation of the mechanisms of power that produce a certain narrative of these events. This essay proposes to do that by analysing three texts produced in different circumstances and by different powers: La scelta di Catia (a web series produced and sponsored by the Italian navy in order to promote a certain image of the operation Mare Nostrum); Fuocoammare (documentary by Gianfranco Rosi that received the Golden Bear); Io sto con la sposa (International production in which the directors and members of the cast are personally and directly involved with the migrant crisis). Each of these films shapes migratory space in a different way and helps to define the image of the migrant and the spectator.