Italiano
Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea by Marcel Barrena receives the “FS Audience Award” at the 16th edition of the Rome Film Fest.
The winning film of the FS Audience Award, in collaboration with the Gruppo FS Italiane, Official Sponsor of the Fest, was voted by audiences at the first repeat screening of films on the Official Selection lineup, by using the official Fest App or the website www.romacinemafest.it.
Luca Torchia, Chief Communication Officer of Italian FS, presented the “FS Audience Award” to Aldo Lemme, Adler Entertainment’s Head of Theatrical Distribution who will distribute the film in Italy.
“Mediterráneo” is produced by Spanish Lastor Media, Fasten Films, Arcadia Motion Pictures and Cados Producciones – plus Greece’s Heretic.
MEDITERRANEO: THE LAW OF THE SEA
by Marcel Barrena, Spain, Greece, 2021, 111’
Cast: Eduard Fernández, Dani Rovira, Anna Castillo, Sergi López, Àlex Monner, Melika Foroutan
Autumn 2015. Two Spanish lifeguards, Òscar and Gerard, travel to the island of Lesbos after seeing the heart-wrenching photograph of a little boy drowned in the Mediterranean Sea and discover a shocking reality: thousands of people risking their lives every day by trying to cross the sea in the most precarious of vessels, fleeing from armed conflicts and other miseries in their home countries. But the thing that stands out most is that no one is doing any rescue work. Together with Esther, Nico and other membersof the team, they will fight to do the job that none of the authorities are doing and provide support to the thousands of people who so badly need it. Based on the true story of Òscar Camps, the founder of Open Arms.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
In September 2015, the world was shaken by the photograph of three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body on the shores of the Mediterranean. That image changed the life of Oscar Camps, a lifeguard in Badalona. He convinced his friend Gerard Canals to go to Lesbos to see what was happening there. What started out as a two-day trip would turn into a mission that would last for months, one that, to date, has saved the lives of over 60,000 people. After seeing that photo, Oscar dropped everything to save many refugees from certain death and expose what was going on. But what could I do? I’m not a lifeguard, but I could make a film to give visibility to a situation playing out only a two-hour flight away from where I live. We worked on Lesbos for four years, trying to understand that situation firsthand and hammer out a project during which we faced the unimaginable. We filmed in the real offices of the Open Arms rescuers. We reconstructed the refugee camp in Moria and hired hundreds of walk-ons from among the refugees themselves. Neither the film, nor I have the answers to stop what is happening in the Mediterranean, but we can serve as an amplifier so that no one will forget what is happening on our shores.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Barcelona in 1981, Marcel Barrena made his directorial debut with a TV movie, Four Seasons, that won the Critics’ Prize, the Jury Prize, and the Best Director Award, in its category, at the Alicante Film Festival, as well as the Gaudí Award for Best TV Movie. In 2012 he directed the documentary Little World, which received another Gaudí Award, along with the DOC U! Award at the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Boulder Film Festival. His 2016 film, 100 Meters, garnered two more Gaudí Awards, among other kudos, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
