Shun Li arrived in Italy from China in search of fortune. After being employed in a Roman textile laboratory, the girl finds work as a bartender in a tavern in Chioggia, where she meets Bepi, a fisherman of Slavic origins nicknamed the Poet. Their friendship is destined to strengthen and become ever deeper thanks to the poetry that allows them to distance themselves from the hostilities that divide their respective communities and the economic difficulties that affect the country. Documentary filmmaker Andrea Segre's notable debut in fiction is a story made of glances, silences, repressed desires and broken dreams. The cleanliness of the gaze, gracefully cast on an unprecedented Veneto, is accompanied by a delicacy of touch that leaves its mark. Also thanks to a very large group of great actors (Marco Paolini, Rade Sherbedgia, Giuseppe Battiston, Roberto Citran).
Andrea Segre: Having a PhD in communication sociology at the University of Bologna behind him, Andrea Segre has established himself as one of the most sensitive and rigorous documentarians on the Italian cinema scene. He has been studying and reporting on migrations towards Europe and the contradictions of the developed world for several years: he wrote and directed Marghera Canale Nord (2003) selected at the Venice Film Festival, Che cosa manca (2006), La mal’ombra (2007) awarded at the Turin Film Festival, A sud di Lampedusa (2007) on the expulsions of African migrants in the Ténéré desert. It is dedicated to the same theme Come un uomo sulla Terra (2008), a work awarded in numerous Italian festivals and nominated for the David as best documentary. In 2009 he filmed Magari le cose cambiano, a journey into the heart of modern Roman villages, where thousands of Italian and foreign citizens are daily denied the right to dignity; 2010 was Il sangue verde, a story of great intensity about the foreign community of Rosarno. Io sono Li, produced by Marco Paolini's Jole film and presented with great success at the latest Venice Film Festival, represents his debut in fiction cinema.