In the wake of its Berlin Film Festival win for the Golden Bear, Gianfranco Rosi’s migrant documentary has negotiated a deal with Kino Lorber for all North American distribution rights. Currently, a fall release is in the works for Kino Lorber.
Rosi’s film chronicles the effects of the current migrant crisis on a local Italian Island community, Lampedusa. “The major personalities in “Fire at Sea” are a local doctor and a 12-year-old boy whose ordinary life — he would rather climb the rocks by the shore, play with his slingshot or mooch about the port than going to school — is set against the backdrop of men, women and children trying to make the crossing from Africa in boats that are far too small and decrepit.” – Variety.
Meryl Streep, the international jury president, had this to say about Fire at Sea: “It’s a daring hybrid of captured footage and deliberate storytelling that allows us to consider what documentary can do. It demands its place in front of our eyes and compels our engagement and action.”