Giuseppe Carrieri’s ‘In Utero Srebrenica’ screened at the ninth Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival, and the DFI team met with the director, who was surrounded by admirers from the audience, congratulating him on his film, which went on to win the festival’s Public Liberties and Human Rights Award.

DFI: What made you go into documentary filmmaking?
Giuseppe Carrieri (GC): I studied general communications and information in university and I was drawn to filmmaking. My initial interest was fiction filmmaking, but I had the chance to go to Srebrenica and make this film and I was very interested, so you can say I got into documentary by accident. I still made my film with a mix of documentary and fiction style of filmmaking.

DFI: ‘Dust’, your first short film, was set in India. Can you tell us about that experience?
GC: It was a fairy-tale story about two street children who are named Rainbow Children, because they appear and disappear in the streets and alleyways. The film talked about friendship and how they both relied on each other to survive the hardship of being on the street, but in the end they grew apart and lost that connection. It was a great experience to be there and experience the Indian culture.

DFI: Who inspires you?
GC: I take inspiration from three great directors. First is the Italian legend Roberto Rossellini, one of the founders of Italian neo-realist cinema. I also admire Martin Scorsese’s attachment to realism and his choice of main characters. The third director is the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostani. His style is very simple and poetic. He can see the poetic aspect of any subject or material and that is a rare skill.

DFI: What would you like to achieve through your films?
GC: I want the audience to come out of the film with more knowledge about the characters, the story and cause, and about me as a director as well. I want them to touch their feelings and want them to be moved enough to go to their friends and share their experiences. I also enjoy teaching filmmaking by mentoring film students and sharing my knowledge so they can have a better chance to tell their stories as well.

DFI: What is your next project?
GC: There is no current project on the table, but I would like to do a fiction feature about a story happening in the MENA region. My first film was in India and my second in Europe, so I would like to change again and come to this rich region. I like the culture, the landscape, the people and the stories of this region so I hope to have the chance soon to undertake a new project.