Harraguantanamo

Giulia Bondi - Ilyess ben Chouikha | 2011| Italia | 5’

Ilyess is 30 years old, he is from Zarzis (Tunisia) and he has taken 70 pictures of his journey as a harraga, illegal immigrant. He took them with his mobile phone between the 28th of March and the 17th of April 2011. These photos start from the sailing to Lampedusa, the emergencies and the welcome, and they ends in the tent village where he lived during 13 days. “It’s like Guantanamo” he says; water was not enough for 700 people’s showers, there were attempts of running away denied by the police, and everybody was constantly unsure about his destiny.

Ilyess’ mobile takes pictures of the barge full of immigrants, the family that welcomes him in Lampedusa, and especially, the tent village in Trapani, his “Guantanamo”. There, photos are of their food ration given by the barriers because of security reasons, mobile cards, some recreation moments playing football or dancing, the hunger, thirst and sleeping strikes organized to complain, and finally, the “temporary residence permit for humanitarian reasons”. Last clicks show the Sicilian landscape that Ilyess sees by the bus. Finally, he is free to go on with his journey and try to get to Paris.