DESTINY – story of an immigrant
I am a young, determined immigrant by the name is Alhassan Jallow. I have been living in Italy for almost seven (7) years. I arrived in Sicilia, Italy the 7th of December 2015, where I was rescued with several others. I lived in the camp with other immigrants for three (3) years, and during these years, I went to school to learn Italian.
I lived a decent and determined life, always trying to make every day that passes count. I got myself a job to support myself to make ends meet. I used to ride 11km to and from on a bicycle through cold winter nights or windy and dusty nights to get to work. Due to these challenging circumstances, I moved into a friend’s apartment, which was much closer to work, and we would split the bills and make things a little less expensive.
Over the years, I have been on a long list of immigrants seeking asylum in Italy since I got here, but the struggle is real. I was once a pool boy, did volunteer work with the social services, was a part-time translator in the court and an operator at the cheese factory. I became an active member of the IOM (The International Organization for Migration) in Italy, November 2018. This organization is where I met other immigrants like me from different countries. I was that one outgoing individual with the impeccable character you would barely miss in the crowd.
Through this organization, I met an influential Senegalese man named Modou Gueye, who runs Sunu Gal’s association. He also owns a center where events, cultural shows, festivals, and other creative art shows occur. I am passionate about photography and videography, and I have a selfie stick called the Gimbal I had with me all the time. During events with the IOM, I usually take nice pictures and videos that I share with the organization. Later, I started making videos for Modou when he had events at the center, and Modou appreciated my work so much.
So, in August 2021, there is a film festival every year called cinema da mare; they have film festivals all over Italy and usually need actors, editors, camera operators etc. Modou saw this opportunity and contacted me to ask if I was interested. After giving it a thought, I decided to give it a shot and applied for it. I was lucky to be part of the chosen ones, and each person was given a chance to come up with one concept to showcase creativity. Having this opportunity to film something, I finally had the opportunity to show the struggles of a real immigrant living in Italy with no papers, a real-life scenario. I came up with the short Film called DESTINY which was inspired by my story and the struggles I have been through. Since I was directing and at the same time acting, Eduard Lemiale offered to be a co-director of my film.
The short film DESTINY is one of those films that will blow your mind away and, at the same time make you feel right in my shoes. The film features how far I have gone, how I settled in Italy, made lots of friends and lived the dream. However, after attempting severally to acquire documents to live in Italy legally, I was denied and asked to leave immediately. The disappointment and the pain of having to leave after 6-7 years had me crying my heart out in agony.
After shooting the short film, that week at the film festival, DESTINY won the best editing award, and then I won the best actor award! In the weekly competition. Destiny gained popularity as months went by; it was nominated for the SFFIE film festival and won the most heart-warming film award. Nikon film festival came up in 2022 in France, which was more significant than the first one. I was contacted by my good friend Aretha Iskandar, who Did the re-editing of the Film and made the proposal that she wanted to use my film Destiny for the Nikon film festival. I was happy to give her the go-ahead, and during the nominations, the film was shown in 20 cinemas across France.
On 22nd April the film won the student award! Though I couldn’t make it to the award night, I was represented by Aretha Iskandar and Eduardo Lemiale. Along with the prize, we won 3 tickets to go and grace the Cannes film festival in France with our presence. This is a starting point in my acting career!
ARTICOLO REALIZZATO DA: Alhassan Jallow
