Migrant's 3 brutal years trying to reach Italy inspired the Oscar-nominated film 'Io Capitano'
![Migrant's 3 brutal years trying to reach Italy inspired the Oscar-nominated film 'Io Capitano'](https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2024/02/16/Migration_Italy_Oscars_54378_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c)
Mamadou Kouassi's searing, epic journey over African deserts, through illegal prisons and across the Mediterranean Sea in a smugglers' boat informed Italian director Matteo Garrone's Oscar-nominated film "Io Capitano." Some episodes that the Ivorian migrant witnessed on his three-year odyssey were too strong to make the final cut.