VIDEO | An Italian-Djiboutian neorealism against the war between the poor

Saleh awarded in his country of origin after the short film set in Rome

ROME – “The problem of the West is the advance of the far right, which foments war between the poor. The powerful of the world do not they stop and I find myself afraid to go out in the evening. Yet there are many riches that should be divided: I only feel better when I divide my cake”.

Kassim Yassin Saleh is an Italian director with origins in Djibouti and Somalia, and has lived in Rome for years. “Woe betide anyone who touches it”, he assures the Dire agency: “I love it madly. Even though when I arrived, like many Africans, I planned to stay there for a maximum of one night: my dream was to go to Canada”.

The interview coincides with Saleh’s participation in the first edition of a Festival in Djibouti, in which photographers, musicians and artists also participate. In pocket, a 2022 short film produced with Rai Cinema and screened at the Rome Film Festival: “With ‘War among the Poor’ I and the other screenwriters were ahead of our time” says Saleh.

“In those 15 minutes of film I convey a concern that I had then as today: the far right is growing throughout the West. The powerful people of the world are not worried about it. But in the evening, If I can, I stay at home.

And it’s not just a problem in Italy: many of my friends in Sweden, France or other European countries have been threatened or beaten. These things don’t happen in Africa: there is more humanity.”

In ‘War among the poor’ this is also told: the beating of an immigrant by boys close to the extreme right in a degraded Roman outskirts, where the arrival of an ethnic Roma family in a council house also triggers the protests of the residents of the neighborhood. “They are both true events that gave me the inspiration for this black and white short” says Saleh. “It is pure neorealism, which recalls De Sica, Sabatini, Visconti, Pasolini and Rossellini, the great masters of what I call ‘devastating cinema'”.

And like Pasolini, who in his documentaries recounted the challenges of the Roman villages between the 1950s and 1960s, “I too would like to bring my short film to schools, from the suburbs to the centre, up to Parioli, to think together To the kids”. And not only that: “I would like to dialogue with those on the far right.”

To remember that “it is the powerful people of the world who pit us against each other. Only 1% of the population holds the world’s riches. We are all poor, unfortunately. Most of the riches come from Africa and Latin America , which the West has always exploited. The governments of those countries are not free: Europe and the United States are in charge”.

The key then is “divide those riches and eat everyone”. And then tell the present. But for directors of foreign origin, “Italy offers few opportunities. It’s the same for Italians too. I have achieved many things, but often putting money out of my own pocket. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult”.