Matteo Garrone's 'Io capitano' premieres at Venice Film Festival

Matteo Garrone's film 'Io capitano' premiered in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival and is released by 01 Distribution. The fiction film, based on true testimonies and shot entirely in Africa, follows two young men, Seydou and Moussa, who leave Dakar against their families' wishes to reach Europe. Their journey becomes a contemporary odyssey through desert dangers, Libyan detention horrors, and sea perils. Garrone describes it as a 'counter-shot' to the usual Mediterranean migrant narratives, aiming to humanize those often reduced to numbers. The screenplay was co-written by Massimo Gaudioso, Massimo Ceccherini, and Andrea Tagliaferri. Garrone notes that 70% of Africa's population is young, and many risk their lives not from absolute poverty but from dignified poverty, seeking better futures in Europe.