Jululu: Film on Migrant Labor Exploitation Wins Best Director at Venice

Michele Cinque's short film 'Jululu' (2017) exposes the brutal reality of 'caporalato' (illegal labor brokerage) and modern slavery in Italian agriculture. The 15-minute film follows the daily routine of migrant workers in southern Italy—Sicily, Apulia, Lazio, Campania—who endure extreme exploitation, violence, and inhumane living conditions in ghettos. The narrative is driven by Yvan Sagnet, a Cameroonian-born engineer and activist who led the first farmworker revolts in Nardò, Salento, in 2011. His testimony was crucial in the 2017 trial that convicted twelve entrepreneurs and foreign labor brokers for 'reduction into slavery.' The film, produced by Lazyfilm, premiered at the 74th Venice International Film Festival as part of the MigrArti 2017 project funded by Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage. It won the Best Director award in that section. The film features a closing song by Senegalese griot Badara Seck, invoking 'Yululu,' the protective spirit of the African people. Sagnet, now a trade unionist for Flai-Cgil, writer, and activist, frames the struggle as a cultural battle against political forces exploiting racism. The film is available on Rai Cinema's website.