Osas and the women of Benin City

by Gabriele Gravagna, Italy, 2023, 15' – Out of competition

Three Nigerian girls were killed in Palermo in 2011. The public will say they were just “prostitutes,” but the woman who tells us this story, looking us straight in the eye, reminds us that Loveth, Favour, and Bose were human beings.

Osas Egbon is the president of the first Italian association against the exploitation of prostitution, made up entirely of Nigerian women who were former victims of trafficking. They are the "Women of Benin City," named after the city where they all come from.

For young Nigerian women seeking freedom, Osas becomes a point of reference.

She speaks their language, she has experienced firsthand what prostitution and violence mean.

#violenceagainstwomen #women'sissue #femicide

Born in Palermo in 1986, Gabriele Gravagna moved to Rome in 2005, where he attended the Audiovisual Directing and Production course at the European Institute of Design. In 2007, he studied screenwriting with Giorgio Arlorio, Nicola Giuliano, and Francesco Bruni. He is a director and writer specializing in docu-soaps and docu-fiction for television, film, and the web.

Among his works: the docufiction “Ilaria Alpi: l'ultimo viaggio” directed together with Claudio Canepari and produced by Rai Fiction and the documentary “Ho trovato il coraggio”,

Movie trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgbcRFl4rng