Andrea Segre won the LUX Prize 2012 with "Io sono Li", a film dedicated to all the mothers who leave their children in order to try and give them a better life.

Interview: LUX Prize: To all immigrant mothers

Andrea Segre, hello  and congratulations on the LUX Prize

you've just received today  at the European Parliament.

First question.  This is a political institution you're in.

Is your film a political film or is it just art?

that draws attention to a political issue  that's quite important nowadays.

So it's the story of a young  Chinese woman migrating to Italy

and this is a question  that is all around European countries.

Through this film I tried also to put  my point of view on this political issue.

Would this be a film that could  have been shot everywhere in Europe?

Could this story happen  everywhere in Europe?

I think so, but there is  something particular in the story

that is not Italy, but Chioggia, the small  town or village where we shot the film.

It's a fishing town in the Lagoon  of Venice, not far from Venice.

This particular place, which is actually  the place where my mother was born,

is a place where it's possible to find a  dialogue between two identities in crisis.

That means the identity  of the Chinese mother migrating

Because in this place we can find  the old identity of Italian fishermen,

and often Italian society  was changing a lot.

So it's also a film about the changes  in Italian identity and Italian society.

but it's also two sorts of identity  smashing somewhere.

Do you have the impression  this is clearly Italy or...?

Italy has a new relationship  with immigration,

different from  the other European countries,

different from France  or England or Germany.

Italy has been, until 15 years ago,  a land of emigration,

And so in the same Italian family in Italy,

and the son who is working  with an immigrant.

And this relationship is very interesting.  I tried to underline this change.

You said the father.  Here it's the mother moving somewhere.

Do you dedicate this film to all mothers

Yeah. The migrant mothers are maybe  the most courageous immigrants.

Because they're trying to give a future  to their children by leaving them

and going to the other side of the world.

it's really dangerous  and complicated to do.

So the prize is dedicated  to the migrant women,

and not only to the mothers who emigrate

but also to the mothers who are waiting  for their children who emigrate.

The LUX Prize mostly concentrates  on human rights subjects,

Italy is quite a lot in the headlines  concerning asylum seekers.

Remember September, for example,  Lampedusa is a symbol for Italy.

Is there something of this in this film too?

Do you think of these people  in Lampedusa or is that another story?

In my career as a documentary-maker  I focused a lot of my films on this topic

and travelling from Africa to Italy.  This film is not about Lampedusa.

But it's about the relationship between  Italy and the phenomenon of immigration.

In Italy in recent years  we've faced increasing xenophobia

and increasing tension  because of this change.

But in Italy there are also  a lot of positive energies

which are trying to stop the tragedy  of this xenophobic direction.

It is a political institution,  as we said at the beginning.

Do you have the impression  that Li's message here

or is this institution too far away  from what Li is in fact living every day?

If I didn't think that there is a possibility  for Li and for my film

to make an impression  on the political institution and on society,

I feel that the film, through the emotions  and the particular story of a person, Li,

has the possibility of reaching  some social, political and historical goals

sometimes in an easier way than  longer political dialogues or speeches.