Seydou Sarr, protagonist of Io Capitano, nominated for an Oscar, tells his story: “My freedom is not like yours”

The Dakar-Los Angeles is the most important stage race of Seydou Sarr’s life. It started with an audition he passed in a daring way in his husband’s capital Senegal, when he only dreamed of becoming a football star and had the Gascon lightness of 16 years old. Continued in the months of filming – between the Moroccan desert and the Mediterranean Sea – for I Captain, Matteo Garrone’s film which, between handfuls of sand in the mouth and salt in the eyes, tells the drama of illegal African immigration into Europe, and the lives that he was cruelly taken away. With a debutant Seydou, surprising and undisputed protagonist.

He then went to the Venice Film Festival, where for all these good reasons at 18 he won the Marcello Mastroianni award for best emerging actor. And now he lands in California, where on March 10 – during Oscar night – he will try to raise the statuette for best foreign film to the sky, together with the Italian director who discovered him and literally welcomed him into the family (for months Seydou lived in Fregene at the home of Mrs. Donatella, Garrone’s mother: «Now a bit like my godmother»).
Over a Coca-Cola – because as a practicing Muslim «I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t eat pork, I don’t smoke and you will never see me naked in a film» – Seydou speaks at a very low volume in French which is starting to be contaminated by Italian (” child”, “happy”, “girl”, “tomato”, “beautiful”). The language of what is becoming his adopted and chosen country.

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Awards, applause, photo shoots, newspaper covers. And now the trip to Hollywood. Could he have imagined all this?
«Not only did I not believe it, I didn’t even dream of it: I simply wanted to become a footballer. For me, Europe was that: the big clubs, the big stadiums, going to the Bernabeu or seeing Victor Osimhen play. I was trying, because the biggest fan ever was my father. I had also played in a national selection, when I was very young. When he died, I had to get by differently, roll up my sleeves to help out with the family, find a job as a dishwasher or a bricklayer. Without ever stopping playing.”

Like the fateful day of the audition. Can you tell us about it?
«Wake up at 7, directly to the camp in my city, Thiès. A friend of my older sister Khadija, who does theater in Senegal, had told her about this casting where they were looking for boys aged 1 to 18. She says to me: “Why don’t you try, Seydou?”. I said yes, unconvinced, in fact I forgot about it. At 10 I get a phone call: “Where the hell are you?”. She came to pick me up to go directly to the chosen audition location, as I was after training. Once there, however, there were more than 200 kids lined up in front of me. The lady at the door said to me cynically: “Too late, they won’t have time to see you, there’s no point in waiting.” If it hadn’t been for my sister I would have left.”

And instead…
«I did what I perhaps do best: I started observing. Watching others, understanding what was happening. So when it was finally my turn at 7pm, I was tired but calm. I had to play a guy who has to convince a friend to go to Europe, speak French and Wolof. I only did it once, the others at least two or three. They asked me for my contact details, they would let me know.”

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And did the call come that changed her life?
«No, but after 15 days 30 thousand francs (African CFA, ed.) arrived for a taxi trip and a night in Dakar, an hour and a half from home, because they had taken me as a walk-on but I had to do a second audition. I said to myself, “Well, things are getting serious.” And so it was. After another three weeks the phone call in which they told my sister that they had chosen me for the secondary role: I would go to Morocco, France and Italy. She sang, danced for happiness. I told her: “Ah, ok”. But I felt for the first time a responsibility for other people’s dreams, that I could redeem our story, help the family and do it for those, like Khadija, who hadn’t had such an opportunity. In fact, I dedicated the award to her in Venice.”

And Matteo Garrone in all this?
«Les blancs (white people: Seydou will enjoy defining Europeans and Westerners as such throughout the interview, ed.) I saw them for the first time via Zoom. Instead, I met Moustapha Sall, my set and adventure partner: an incredible feeling, as if we had known each other forever. Then it was Matteo, on the first day on set, who told me: “I have reversed the roles, you will be the protagonist”, perhaps changing my life. And there was no script, we discovered day by day what would happen.”

What do you hope we, the spectators, have “received” from the film?
«That what is easy, almost obvious, for an Italian or European boy, is unfortunately not easy for us in Africa. If you study, start working and earn money and with that first money you just want to have a passport and go and see the world, you can’t do it. A simple appointment at the embassy becomes an obstacle course if you are nobody. Someone will probably take your money. Power is in the hands of horrible people.”

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And what would the Seydou of Africa need instead?
«To be free. Free to travel, free to dream, free to live. I Captain can help make our reality more known. And the clandestine migrations of which I myself was unaware of many things. But seeing up close the suffering, the pain, the mourning of those who face a journey of hope, just because it is sacrosanct to want a better future, helped me to understand.”

For example?
«That here you only see the final part of that journey: the boats arriving on the coast. But there is much more behind it. And in any case, to those who think they can resolve this drama only with the use of force, I say: the landings will never end. And do you know why? Because behind it there is a “legitimate desire and nothing will be able to stop it” (he pronounces slowly in Italian, ed.)”.

What was the most intense moment for you?
«When I shout: “I captain”, driving the boat for the first time. I felt responsibility, joy, pain, the desire for liberation and a certain pride on my shoulders. There is a perfect Wolof term: mbekté. It’s something you feel inside.”

And the most difficult scene?
«In the desert, while I hold a lady in my arms who then flies away. I kept seeing my father, then her, then my father again. He died just like that, in my arms.”

What kind of family and childhood did you have?
«My parents separated when I was little, I have three sisters older than me: one now lives in France, one in Italy, the eldest with my mother in Senegal. I studied until the fourth year of secondary school, then I had to leave to earn a little and be able to eat. I’m not ashamed to say that it hasn’t always been easy. Then, luckily, there was football.”

What kind of person is your mother?
«Worse than Italian mothers. Just recently she said to me, “One day you will have children, but know that you will always be my baby.” And in fact, woe betide me if I don’t follow her advice.”

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Here Seydou takes the smartphone and scrolls through the family group chat. Among emoticons and goodnight messages, there are screenshots of a shooting for the promotion of the film: in one she has a pair of very high waisted jeans, in another her shirt is open on her bare chest. The photos were clearly the subject of heated family debate.

«If we had been close, he would have hit me (laughs, ed.). They aren’t good for her: the first is too “feminine”, the second is too “discovered”. The way we dress also tells us who we are and what we stand for, so I try to be careful. This is why I wore a traditional Senegalese dress in Venice, who knows, maybe I’ll wear one to the Oscar night too.”

Does it have to do with faith, religion?
«I am Muslim, practicing when I can. And I’m a believer, yes. And I believe that our destiny does not depend only on ourselves. If all goes well, inshallah, I have found a job and a future: I feel ready. Who would I like to work with? With Omar Sy, watching the Lupine series I found it exceptional. Of course, now that I get new film proposals, I always want to make it clear that I can’t drink, I can’t smoke, I can’t eat pork, I will never shoot a nude scene. I hope that this is understood and respected.”

Will he change when he becomes more confident and understands that this is fiction and not real life?
«I don’t want anyone who sees me in Senegal to think: “Look how Seydou has changed”. I am always myself.”

But it’s also nice, even right to change, right?
«I like to remain the simple, generous and kind person that I am. But I understand the question and I admit that one thing has changed: my life in Senegal represents the past. I will do everything to help my family and my people, that makes me happy. The money I earned for the film I gave to my mother, who in her own small way distributed it to relatives and neighbors. But I have no intention of moving back there. Now I dream of having my own home here in Italy, perhaps near the sea. And, why not, a “beautiful Italian girl”».

Hair: Andrea Pirani. Makeup: Andrea Sailis. Set Designer: Alessandro Mensi. Stylist assistant: Beatrice Pretto. Set designer assistant: Vito Salamone. Post production: Ink