Abdulaye, Alex, Hafsa, Moussa, and Sisì. On the shore of Cutro, their voices intertwine in a powerful, narrative of migration—stories of hope that blend common and deeply personal emotions. Through the delicate and expressive medium of sand art, their journeys unfold: from past lives in Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Somalia to their arrival in Calabria. Here they chose to stay, in Caulonia, Lamezia, Reggio Calabria, and Soveria Mannelli. Here they found Nyumba — the Swahili word for “home.” From these places, they talk about their everyday lives, shaped by memory, resilience, connection, and the possibility of a new beginning. A poetic tribute to the more than 30,000 migrants lost in the Mediterranean, transformed into a docufilm of remembrance and hope.

Director's note

Nyumba is an immersive, physical and emotional experience. It's a total and totalizing travel diary into the lives of five people who, forced to flee their own lands, leave their past behind to be born again in an elsewhere. The film avoids clichés on issues like forced migration or acceptance and chooses instead to tell the human journey of the protagonists through different elements: the evocative power of real and abstract images, the enveloping and three-dimensional sounds and the unstructured places and topographies take an active and involving role in the fictional universe and in the narration of events.