Istràngius

How Cinema and Audiovisual Media Portray Foreigners in Sardinia

Abstract

According to figures from the latest demographic statistics, there are more than 55.000 foreign citizens in Sardinia (3,4% of the total resident population), and this number is expected to grow over the next few years. As an island exposed to frequent social and commercial exchanges throughout its history, Sardinia represents a fertile scenario for multicultural and multiracial encounter, not to mention linguistic contamination and variety. On the one hand, Sardinian literature has extensively recounted the presence of istràngius (‘strangers, foreigners’) in the island over the past centuries. On the other hand, Sardinian cinema has recently discovered the high potential of the migratory phenomenon as a current issue to narrate on screen. This paper aims to reflect upon the presence and representation of foreign people in Sardinian film and audio-visual productions, through the analysis of documentaries, short and feature films which, since the early 2000s, have shown the arrival of immigrants in Sardinia, as well as the process of cultural integration in the island territory.