Real-life ‘Io Capitano’ Skipper Fofana Amara Talks Oscar Hopes & Pleasure That His Story Is Being Told
deadline.comAs Italian director Garrone steps on to the Academy Awards red carpet on March 10 with Best International Feature Film nominee Io Capitano, the real-life skipper who part inspired the drama will be watching and rooting for the film from afar.
West African born Fofana Amara was just 15 years old when he successfully skippered a rickety boat carrying 250 people across the Mediterranean from the Libyan coast in July 2014, to arrive off the Sicilian port of Augusta.
Proudly declaring “Io, capitano” (“I’m the captain”) when the coast guard boarded the ship, the youngster was immediately slammed in jail on charges of human trafficking.
It was just one stage of Amara’s perilous journey from the Republic of Guinea to Italy, passing by Libya, which had begun when he was 14 years old.
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