‘A Black Jesus’, Siculian honorary citizenship to Wim Wenders

Audience of the great occasions last night in Siculiana where the director Luca Lucchesi presented the documentary film A Black Jesus, produced by Wim Wenders, who thus returned to the town in the province of Agrigento where his story is set. Among the protagonists of the film Edward Zorobah, a young migrant from Ghana who three years ago was a guest in the reception center of Villa Sikania and whose story is at the center of the documentary. During the evening, Edward Zorobah and the German producer Wim Wenders were awarded the honorary citizenship of the city of Siculiana. Guest of honor Roy Paci, author of the original score of A Black Jesus, which received the Clock Tower Award. The documentary follows the story of Edward Zorobah, a young migrant from Ghana who was hosted by the Villa Sikania reception center, and his desire to take part in the procession of the black Christ, venerated for centuries in the small town of Agrigento. A Black Jesus offers a new perspective and a non-judgmental look on the issues of migration and reception in Europe. A video message was sent by the Minister for Equal Opportunities Elena Bonetti. “It is an important opportunity – he said – not only for the Siculiana community, but for the whole of our country, to reflect and observe with a new look the need to make ourselves bearers of an inclusive and welcoming social model, for a new model of Europe, which also our beautiful land of Sicily wants and knows how to interpret, through the courage of solidarity and facing the difficulties that arise from the encounter with diversity and with the suffering of peoples who still today cross our sea to reach the our land and seek through our country the achievement of a possible hope. It is a new disenchanted gaze that we must carry, but a gaze of profound humanity, which knows how to look at critical issues, which knows how to recognize mutual fears but which at the same time finds the reason for a courage that must be put in these fears and resistances. in the field: that of meeting and a model of society that is co-responsible, in particular in the European context. The life of the women and men of Siculiana and of these young boys and girls who become part of this community and grasp the ancient tradition of encounter and welcome, of wounded and renewed humanity, is a delicate gaze. I am truly grateful to you for this beautiful occasion and I wish not only your community and the whole Sicilian Region, but all of us to know how to interpret, even after this moment dramatically aggravated by the pandemic, a look of humanity capable of the courage of solidarity and of meeting and also of hope. ”“ The initiative – said the mayor Peppe Zambiente – is the right recognition for a cinematographic work, which tells without rhetoric the relationship of the migrants guests of the Villa Sikania structure with the community I represent. A realistic and poetic portrait, which, starting from Siculiana, from her strong veneration to the Black Christ, takes on a universal message of a humanity that feels the strong need to welcome and welcome itself, out of the ordinary. Edward’s honorary citizenship is not a formal recognition, but responds to his desire for belonging which I intend to favor, because I recognize in him the beauty of true inclusion. Welcome back home to Black Jesus “.” Siculiana – declared the prefect of Agrigento Maria Rita Cocciufa – is a living community, which welcomes, which does not hide the problems. The community’s relationship with Villa Sikania, which is now a center for quarantine anti Covid, it has always been a difficult relationship, but full of gestures of attention and solidarity. I believe Siculiana is a very courageous community. This film, which will go around the world, will give an idea of ​​what it really means to live with the migration phenomenon. It is a difficult experience in which the worst can come out, but also as good as what we have seen, the story of Edward Zorobah “.” I met Edward – said the director Luca Lucchesi – during the procession of the Black Christ of Siculiana. He had arrived in Siculiana a few days ago. His eyes were still suspended on a horizon of pain, somewhere in the Mediterranean between Libya and Sicily. The encounter with that black Christ like him, raised through the streets of the town by my fellow villagers, would have started a new path for him. Edward didn’t know. I didn’t know that. We were both lucky enough to witness a miracle. And in part that they were also the architects. With the honorary citizenship of Siculiana for Edward, what judges and commissions, laws and bureaucrats have not yet been able to certify, is once and for all proclaimed by an entire community of men and women: Edward is one of us ”“ I am very proud – said producer Wim Wenders in a video massage – to have produced A Black Jesus. Not only for the cinematic value of my longtime assistant Luca Lucchesi’s debut work. But also and above all for having contributed to triggering a dialogue on one of the most dramatic themes of our time. As citizens of this Europe, we have a great responsibility towards the multitudes of human beings who undertake a dramatic journey to our shores every day. A responsibility that unfortunately we neglect. The news of the honorary citizenship for Edward Zorobah, protagonist of the film, is a small gesture of hope and civil maturity that marks an important stage in the history of the town of Siculiana. After years of mistrust and fear, now is the time for dialogue and courage. I hope that Edward can now finally obtain the necessary document to stay in Italy, in Siculiana. He was the real architect of this small miracle of integration and mutual respect: a true act of civil courage that must now be officially rewarded and recognized ”.