Of shipwrecks and Weddings: Borders and Mobilities in Europe

Abstract

This essay proposes a new visual politics of Europe’s borders that foregrounds encounters and trespassings. It focuses on the analysis of two films that have received wide international acclaim: On the Bride’s Side (2013) and Fuocoammare (2015). The films deal with migration as a humanitarian crisis but are not simple acts of denunciation. They are also not straightforward documentaries but offer innovative visual registers that defy categorization into fixed genres, such as the road movie or observational documentary. On the Bride’s Side uses the format of a travelling wedding party that disregards both legislation restricting free mobility in Europe and the cynicism about the hopelessness of the migrant condition. The film was realized through an online crowdfunding campaign unprecedented in Italy. Fuocoammare presents the tragedy of Lampedusa outside of the regular schemes and screens, combining the migrant drama with the ordinary lives of people on the island, mostly through the perspective of a 12-year-old boy, Samuele, whose lazy eye becomes a metaphor for the short-sightedness of Europe. Both films propose a new aesthetic of the border, forging new imaginaries for Europe where spaces of solidarity and cosmopolitanism are still possible.