Il regista Mimmo Calopresti ospite dell'incontro "Dio è con i migranti"

On Friday, October 4th (at 7:00 pm - free entrance), the Convitto Palmieri in Lecce will host the event "God is with migrants. From the defeat of Cutro to the fight for rights" and the screening of the documentary "Cutro, Calabria, Italy" by Mimmo Calopresti, with the participation of the Calabrian director and screenwriter.

Promoted by Fondazione Casa della Carità, Consorzio Sale della Terra, Migrantes, Polo BiblioMuseale of Lecce and the Archdiocese of Lecce, the evening will start with a debate, coordinated by the director Alessandro Valenti (president of Accademia della Carità Aps), with interventions from Luigi De Luca (director of Polo BiblioMuseale), Michele Seccia (archbishop of the diocese of Lecce), Claudio Stefanazzi (parliamentarian), Loredana Capone (president of the Regional Council of Puglia), Pablo Enrico Allegro (lawyer - Fondazione Casa della Carità and Accademia della Carità Aps), Giulio Ricotti (trainer - coordinator of the integration reception area of the Sale della Terra network) and Leonardo Palmisano (sociologist, writer and publisher).

After this first moment of discussion, Mimmo Calopresti will present his documentary "Cutro, Calabria, Italy", a story of what happened on the night between February 25th and 26th, 2023, when 94 migrants, including 25 minors, lost their lives on the beach of Steccato di Cutro. When talking about humanity, it is difficult to find the words to define a clear course of action regarding what should be done. One draws from a philosophical plane and enters into analyses that are not suitable for such a vast, immense, intangible concept. What is human? Is it human to think that what happens every day in the Mediterranean should be processed in the intentions of the unfortunate protagonists? What was Cutro? What does Cutro represent today? Cutro is perceived as the defeat of Italian and European migration policy, a disastrous epilogue of political skirmishes that led to a human and moral massacre. We found ourselves avoiding looking at a stretch of lifeless, silent bodies, just as the political debate on what happened also remained silent. Mimmo Calopresti chose the path of audiovisual storytelling to break the silence and bring a crucial issue of our time back to the center of the debate. The discussion will revolve around borders and not life. From here arises the drive that led the Accademia della Carità to organize a series of meetings that draw from current debates with the aim of putting the focus back on a set of values that is slowly losing its meaning, sacrificing, in addition to itself, thousands of lives every year. Children, women, and men who do not just die at sea, but who lose their lives every day because they are not recognized the right to live: those born in the wrong place at the wrong time. From the massacre of Cutro to the jus scholae, to the much-desired jus soli, we will discuss together with Mimmo Calopresti and the numerous guests present the value of life, lived life, and the importance of a missed look on the many, too many victims reaped by indifference and fear of change. An invitation to finally look courageously at what has been done to all those who did not make it, so that this gaze can nurture a constructive dialogue and indicate a new path to take, so that Cutro, today, represents memory and inspiration for the birth of a new humanity. "This meeting is just the beginning of a long journey that, as Accademia della Carità, we want to undertake to reflect on the new social state. We want to listen to the needs of citizens and, at the end of a series of appointments on various topics dear to us (citizenship, rights, health, housing, public water are just some) to draw up a document to bring to the attention of politicians and institutions, to contribute to the common good," emphasizes Alessandro Valenti. "The Casa della Carità is well aware of the immigration phenomenon, constantly touching its drama and living it in its value and richness. Cutro is an example of that human despair to which the right to cry has also been taken away. Instead, we give voice to those whose voice has been silenced. That's why this event means so much. It is an attempt at civilization that intends to rekindle sensitivity towards those who just want to feel recognized in their dignity as human beings," specifies Simona Abate of the Fondazione Casa della Carità.