FRIT1601: Migrants and Refugees in Mediterranean Cinema

This course deals with films made in France, Spain, Italy, the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), sub-Saharan Africa and the Levant (mostly Syria). All of the films tackle migration and most of them deal with the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea in particular. It focuses on how migrants, regular and clandestine migrations, as well as related themes, including globalization, hospitality and transnational modes of transportation have been filmed, discussed and written about in various types of discourses. Why and how do people emigrate? Where are the major destinations of migrants? What is Fortress Europe? What is the “global South?” What is the so-called refugee crisis? Who is a refugee? What impact has the Arab Spring had on contemporary migrations to Europe? How does mass media portray the global South? What do political discourses tell us about the European and North African handlings of recent human migratory movements? Can artists effectively put forward an alternate take on such issues? What types of responses in artistic productions as well as in the political and humanitarian arenas have failed attempts at crossing the Mediterranean Sea triggered? These are some of the questions we will address. Among the films that we will analyze—all shown in class—are Chus Gutiérrez’s Return to Hansala, Reem Kherici’s Paris or Perish, Ismaël Ferroukhi’s The Grand Voyage and Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea. All films have English subtitles. The class will be conducted in English.

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