Italy: Migrations, Then and Now
THURSDAY, MARCH | 13 | 2014
5 P.M. RECEPTION | 6:00 P.M. PROGRAM
MUSIC & DANCE RECITAL HALL
Over troubled waters: Closed Seas and Italian Migrations
An evening with directors Stefano Liberti, Andrea Segre, and Dagmawi Yimer
Screening of Mare chiuso (Closed Seas), a documentary by Stefano Liberti and Andrea Segre
Stefano Liberti, Italian journalist, writer and screenwriter
Liberti’s award-winning work focuses on the challenges faced by African immigrants as they travel to and settle in Italy. His work in
Mare chiuso documents the experience of several hundred African migrants who, between May 2009 and 2010, were intercepted in the Mediterranean and returned to Libya by the Italian authorities, following an agreement between Gadhafi and Berlusconi that all migrant boats be directed to Libya. Once there, migrants had no legal protections, and the police exercised various forms of abuse and violence with impunity.
Andrea Segre, Italian director, filmmaker, and Professor of Communication, University of Bologna, Italy
Segre started his career as an ethnographic documentarian, reporting on the ethnocide of the Roma people and, soon thereafter, on the migration of Albanians into Italy. More recently, he has been documenting the passage of migrants from Africa into Italy and Europe through the Mediterranean, despite the repatriation practices enforced by European countries, particularly Italy.
Dagmawi Yimer, Ethiopian Director
A specialist in documentary filmmaking, Yimer endured a year-long journey through Northern Africa, concentration camps, and perilous sea-travel to reach Italy. He has dedicated himself to filming the experience of other migrants who have traveled to Italy. His story provides the background for
Come un uomo sulla terra (Like a Man on Earth), which he co-authored with Andrea Segre.
Valerio Ferme, Vari Visiting Scholar; Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature, University of Colorado, Boulder
Following the screening of Mare chiuso, Ferme will present “Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...with some exceptions: Italian Immigration Eugenics in 20th-Century U.S. Immigration Policies.”
FRIDAY, APRIL | 14 | 2014
5 P.M. RECEPTION | 6 P.M. PROGRAM
ADOBE LODGE
Migration and Globalization: Legal Issues in Present Day Migrations Across Land and Sea
An evening roundtable with the Santa Clara University School of Law
Lynette Parker, Associate Clinical Professor of Law and Lecturer at the Santa Clara University School of Law, Immigration Supervising Attorney, Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center
The roundtable will include our Italian guests and Law Professor Lynette Parker. She will lead with a discussion on American laws related to interdiction of U.S.-bound immigrants, laws and procedures regarding credible fears of being returned to the home countries, and the absence of screening procedures to identify human trafficking incidents at the border. The discussion will be capped by a five-minute clip of
Come un uomo sulla terra, with a personal account by Yimer.
With special support by the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco 
