Actor/Director Antonio Albanese on the Immigration Crisis in Italy

Antonio Albanese is one of contemporary Italy's most versatile actors. Having portrayed characters in just about every situation one can find himself in, Albanese has proven that he could bring that level of diversity to writing and directing as well.

His latest directorial effort is the comedy Contromano, which deals with the ever so relevant subject of immigration. Albanese directs himself in the role of Mario Cavallari. A man set in his ways, Mario is confronted with the prospect of a new boss. When a Senegalese sock vendor further upsets his daily routine, Mario searches for a solution and ends up being forced to step out of his confort zone and face life head on.

Albanese recently presented the film at Canada's Italian Contemporary Film Festival. He addressed the film's relevance during this important moment in Italian history as the country's newly elected officials are taking controversial steps to control the number of clandestine immigrants seeking refuge in Italy.

"The idea came from the fact that there is an association in Italy which helps people in Africa by giving them a chance, for a few euros, to purchase a section of land. With one section, you can support one to two families. This association actually gives money to Africans so they can stay in Africa and purchase this land that is being undersold, being given away. In one year, about 45,000 Africans were able to grow their own vegetable gardens, grown their own products and stay in their country. This was one idea. Of course, there were other ideas. The other idea was to have a character who sells socks in Milan but dreams of owning his own piece of land in Africa.The original concept was to provide importance to lands that have been abandoned and are left to their own vices. Through the assistance and aid of other people, and through the monetary assistance of this association and others... this is one solution that can be looked at. There are many others. There isn't one simple way to resolve the issue of immigration. We started with the initial idea of abandoning certain land. It's kind of a counter-current idea because of course immigration has always been handled with underscoring pain and desperation, which of course are aspects of it. But people don't usually talk about immigration with a serene point-of-view. It's always dealt with in a very sad and miserable way. If you only face it in a sad and miserable way, it difficult to really understand it."

- Jeannine Guilyard

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