'The Meatseller', an animated feature on the true story of 15-year-old Selinna Ajamikoko, who emigrated from Nigeria to Italy, has debuted at the 80th Venice Film Festival.
After the drama-filled journey from Dakar to Italy of two Senegalese boys portrayed in 'Io capitano', for which Matteo Garrone won the best director prize, the Venice Film Festival showcased in the Horizons section another story of a teen migrant from Africa, this time featuring a girl.
The animated short film, 'The Meatseller', is directed by Margherita Giusti and produced by filmmaker Luca Guadagnino.
A year of suffering in Libya
The film is narrated from the point of view of Selinna Ajamikoko, a 15-year-old Nigerian who decides to travel to Italy to realize her dream - becoming a butcher, like her mother. Her journey is an odyssey, until she reaches Libya where she is imprisoned for a year and endures violence and abuse represented in the animated film by portraying migrants as sacrificial animals.
Once she reaches Italy, Selinna stays in a foster home in Naples, Casa del Sole, where Giovanna welcomes her as a second mother and helps her process the trauma.
"When people ask me to talk about my past, it's very hard," Selinna explains in the short film. "I only want to learn to move forward so that I can be free from this body," she adds.
The strength of a voice
The most difficult part of making an animated film is to "never overshadow the story with the aesthetic," explained Margherita Giusti, 31, who graduated in 2020 from Turin's film school Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
"The strength of Selinna's voice bears witness to an experience shared daily by many women, but it is unique, carrying us through a journey of flesh, blood and dreams, in search of her identity," she commented.
Guadagnino told Deadline that "it is fantastic to be involved in the narrative process, not because you have been told how to think, but because you have been given the possibility to feel - this is the movie," speaking about the short film.
He added that he has always been "extremely fascinated by the world of animation and I hope one day to make such a film myself, but for now I am very happy to have the role of producer, as I have told Margherita. Now we should start thinking about her first feature film."