Fire at Sea

"More than 17,000 people were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in the last 15 years..."

2016 1h 54m IT

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 254

Documentary

Synopsis

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Capturing life on the Italian island of Lampedusa, a frontline in the European migrant crisis.

“More than 17,000 people were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in the last 15 years...”

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Cast

Samuele Pucillo
Himself
Mattias Cucina
Himself
Samuele Caruana
Himself
Pietro Bartolo
Himself
Giuseppe Fragapane
Himself
Francesco Paterna
Himself
Francesco Mannino
Himself
Maria Signorello
Herself

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gianfranco Rosi
Writers: Gianfranco Rosi
Languages: English, Italian
Countries: France, Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Gianfranco Rosi, shot by Gianfranco Rosi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jacopo Quadri shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Samuele Pucillo and Mattias Cucina and Samuele Caruana carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "More than 17,000 people were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in the last 15 years...".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gianfranco Rosi directs. Gianfranco Rosi behind the camera. Jacopo Quadri cuts. Produced in France, Italy. Dialogue in English, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 10 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Italian.
3International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Directed by Gianfranco Rosi, shot by Gianfranco Rosi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor Jacopo Quadri shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Samuele Pucillo and Mattias Cucina and Samuele Caruana carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "More than 17,000 people were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in the last 15 years...".
9IMDB entry: tt3652526 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Gianfranco Rosi
Editing: Jacopo Quadri
Sound: Stefano Grosso
Runtime: 114 min · 1h 54m
Status: Released
Original language: IT
IMDB: Fire at Sea (2016)

Awards

European Film Award for Best Documentary
Golden Bear

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Gianfranco Rosi

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2017-02-24
★ 5/10
Multi-layered Mediterranean Sea tale. This documentary film is not in detail like any normal documentary does, to highlight the rights and wrongs. Actually, it speaks less and reveals more through its pictures. So anybody can make their own narration watching this film. The filmmakers left that part empty for you the viewers to decide. But my advice for you if you want to try this, that don't expect it to be about the 'immigration' alone. This film was multi-layered. There are many angles of focus about different topics, but kind of all are connected which is the Mediterranean Sea. So the common thing in the film is the Sea that divides the two continents, Europe and Africa. This film sets around that region about the people who depended on it for the living, growing up and looking for the fresh life start. But the majority of those who saw it recognise only the refugees who cross the sea. That's wrong to label this film is about the refugees. Around 20-25 per cent of the film concentrated on that issue. Only about their struggle on their journey to the other side, but it reveals nothing on its root cause. If you ask me, I would say only one religion making all this mess in the middle-east, otherwise you won't see the western army in that region. Some of the clips, the real ones are really disturbing. I won't blame those people who took such risk to get the other side of the sea. Believe me, I'm not a nationalist, so I won't believe in borders and regions that divided over language and ethnicity base. But I do mind the religious. If that was eradicated from the earth's surface, particularly one that's causing all the trouble immediately, we can co-exist peacefully. That's the major issue here, but we're after temporary solution. The film does not say all this, but you will get the clear picture. "The ships fired rockets and at sea. It was like there was fire at sea." For me this was an average film. I have seen the much better documentaries than this on various issues of the world. The filmmakers don't want to take sides, so they only revealed the truth by just following and making videos of life in and around the Mediterranean Sea. Like I meantioned earlier, some of the angles do not make any sense or difficult to understand its purpose. I don't know the others, but I have got plenty of questions about the film to ask the filmmakers. If you are like me, welcome aboard. It was the Italian entry for the 2017 Oscars and it did not make, but found a slot in the list of Best Documentary Feature. This is the first out of five from that category I have seen, so I don't know whether it wins the award or not, but as per the prediction made by film fanatics and critics, this is the frontrunner. Whatever the result would be, I'm not recommending it particularly the common people. Because the film fails to narrate the story which is very essential from the average peoples' perspective to get the message clear and loud. All one can get with this is only the outline on the very important issue at the moment. Remember how the David Attenborough's narration made to reach all the corners of the earth. Confusing over the purpose of the documentary, possibly misleading. Its like watching a news channel on the mute mode. Otherwise, this should have been one of the best of its kind. 5/10

Production companies