“Being southern Italy, the problem of migration is very close to my heart. The South Italians have always emigrated throughout history, especially during World War II and I have in my family people who have emigrated and I am an emigrant,” said Dell’anna, in front of a special projection of his film in the Palace of Nations in the Swiss city.
Inspired by the true story of the Italian nun, Mother Francesca Cabrini, whom Pope Leo XIII in charge of helping vulnerable migrants who arrive in the United States at the beginning of the last century, her exciting story offers an uncomfortable perspective on discrimination and racism reserved for Italian immigrants and dark skin.
Painfully accurate
“It is very precise, in fact, this particular photo in which I am thinking, of some children, sitting on a small wall, is inspired by an image that was taken during those times,” Dell’anna said.
“Then, it is very precise and everything you see in the movie really happened at some point.”
In spite of the serious diseases of a lifetime and with the help of other Italian nuns and volunteers in the famous already dangerous marginal neighborhoods of five points, Mother Cabrini took orphans, fed, dressed and educated.
He was canonized for his work in 1946, the first American citizen to be converted into a saint.
“We have forgotten how to be inspired and I think Cabrini could help that idea a lot because it is a real story, it is very convincing,” Dell’anna said UN news In the event, coorganized by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the permanent mission of Italy and the permanent observer of the Holy See.
“And I only thought that starting a dialogue in that sense and being here, could be a good starting point perhaps trying to mold certain ideas, ideals and principles that should be our orientation through our daily life for all.”
Commercial places
She added: “I often ask myself:” Where is migrants today in a world where we, is easier to exchange goods and it is easy for things to travel around the world instead of human beings? “We should probably reflect on these problems and understand where we place humanity compared to objects.”
The latest UN estimates indicate that there are at least 281 million international migrants worldwide, a number that has increased in the last five decades, and people continue to move from their homelands promoted by poverty, conflict and climate change.
Accepting divisive and hateful rhetoric that this ancient phenomenon continues to generate is to forget our humanity, says Dell’anna.
“I think we should probably learn a lesson from this film: migrants are not doing well, especially in southern Italy, throughout the country, I fear to say. The way we treat migrants has changed radically and have become a threat rather than an integral part of society.”
Dignified approach
Thanks to a thorough investigated background that covers the arc of the life of Mother Cabrini and the campaign work in northern rural Italy to her struggles against authority, and the hostility of the rank in New York, Cabrini “gives us a chance, gave us a chance, to tell a little what we were happening when we were the ones we emigrated.
When asked what Mother Cabrini herself could have done of the film that represents her mission, with her sumptuous and sometimes that she destroys the soul, Mrs. Dell’anna responded with confidence: “I would be really happy that we are telling the story. Not because of it, but by the other great main character that is in history, which is the migrant.
“I would be really pleased, because this is a very pertinent and contemporary problem … it was very pragmatic (so probably) would say something like, ‘press'”.