Kateryna comes from war-torn Ukraine, she has a degree which, however, is not recognized in Italy. Aliou has a degree in Marketing Communication and comes from Senegal. Then there are Bachir, Gjovana, Narcisa, Chiara, Monica and Mohamed. Many foreign students are at the CPIA (Provincial Center for Adult Education).
They are also protagonists of “A ticket for Savona”, a documentary they shot with the guidance of Guido Lombezzi and Michele Delucis, professionals who made themselves available for this project, with Arci Soldiarietà as the leader. The project was financed by the De Mari Foundation.
The documentary was shot by the working students themselves and, in addition to the commitment of their studies at Cpia, they participated in this project. In an initial curricular phase, the journalist Mimmo Lombezzi explained the use of video cameras, the tricks and rules for making images. During extracurricular time, the students then shot the images, which were then edited by Delucis with Final Cut Pro.
“A ticket to Savona” is an important document that tells how foreigners see and experience Savona, an opportunity to get to know them by going beyond stereotypes and clichés. Through their idea of the city they open up to the story, they explain who they are, what brought them to the city and how they see it. But above all it is an opportunity for the people of Savona to get to know the foreigners who live in Savona, the stories they have to tell and their role in the community.
“Integration is what isn’t shown to you – explains Mimmo Lombezzi who oversaw the project with Delucis – with this project the Cpia students discovered video as a way of expressing themselves. We asked them to do it through their vision of the city. If we had asked them to talk about their personal experience they would probably have shut down, but through Savona they bring their lives to the foreground.” A life marked for some by the war and by anxiety for their enlisted father, for others by what is called “the journey” in which they saw people die, for still others, minors, a telephone number and address that the parents they write on his arm for possible identification. A life that, upon arrival in Savona, made them feel like “aliens”.
But also a life that sees them perfectly integrated into the community of which they are part. “I believe that with this project a formidable result has been achieved – explains Mimmo Lombezzi – for various reasons: a gap has been overcome, an excellent team spirit has been achieved with the students, coming from the most distant universes who worked together, making emerge real talents. It is a formidable teaching experience, a document against racism. Generally there is a perspective aimed at seeing these people as aliens, as one of them says, with this document they are seen in their reality, in the community in which they are integrated. In reality the city does not know the foreigners of Savona and has always done little to get to know them”.
The documentary will premiere at the Filmstudio on June 27th. On Saturday 22 June, however, there will be the delivery of diplomas to the students of the Cpia where the project that led to the creation of “a ticket to Savona” will be illustrated.
