• Documentaries
• Production year 2013
• Length 90’ min.
• Format DCP

Synopsis

On August 8th 1991, an Albanian ship carrying twenty-thousand peoplearrives in the port of Bari. The ship is called Vlora.
To those who watch her approaching, she looks like a teeming ant hill,an ill-defined mass of bodies clinging to one another.
The docking manoeuvres are difficult. Some of the men on board dive intothe sea and swim to shore. Many yell, “Italia, Italia,” holding up two fingersto signal victory.
Vlora is an old mercantile ship, built in the early 1960s in Genoa.
On August 7th 1991, the ship returns from Cuba, to the portof Durazzo, carrying ten-thousand tons of sugar in its hold. While it is in theprocess of unloading its cargo, a crowd of thousands suddenly invades the ship,forcing captain Halim Milaqi to make the crossing to Italy.
The ship overflows with men, women and children.
There is Eva, who climbs up the long mooring lines with her husband.There is Kledi, a kid who was at the beach with his friends when his curiosityled him to join the crowd moving towards the port. There is little Ervis andhis family, there is Robert, a young film student and his class mates.Some, once they’re on board, run into a friend or a brother.
The main engine is not working. There is neither food nor water. Onlysugar.
The August sun bakes the deck. Then, night falls and the captain mustnavigate without a radar. He even avoids a collision.
The next morning, the Vlora is met by an incredulous and stunned cityand an empty sports stadium, where, after a lengthy evacuation of the port, theAlbanians are rounded up before being repatriated. Since that day, twenty-one yearshave gone by.
Most of those who boarded that ship filled with sugar, were sent back toAlbania, but some made other attempts to enter the country as more ships madethe crossing from Albania.
Today, there are four and a half million foreigners living in Italy.

Crew

Director Daniele Vicari
Story Antonella Geta; Daniele Vicari
Screenplay Antonella Gaeta; Benni Atria; Daniele Vicari
Cinematography Gherardo Gossi
Editor Benni Atria
Music Teho Teardo
Sound Velentino Giannì, Gianluca Costamagna
Production Coordinator Ines Vasiljevic
Produced by Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori For Indigo Film; Silvio Maselli for Apulia Film Commission, Ilir Butka for Ska-Ndal Production
Production Indigo Film, Apulia Film Commission
Produced with Rai Cinema
In Co-Production with Apulia Film Commission
In Collaboration with Central State Archive Of Albania
In Collaboration with Telenorba
In Collaboration with Digitalb
Distribution Microcinema
International Sales Rai Trade