Senegalese immigrant Issa struggles to survive in Turin, Italy, navigating an unforgiving city that renders him invisible. After losing his job due to his undocumented status, he finds new hope as a food-delivery rider, gaining a fragile sense of independence—until the bicycle he sacrificed everything to buy is stolen. Desperate to reclaim his only means of survival, Issa embarks on a relentless odyssey through the city, encountering both cruelty and unexpected kindness along the way. Drawing inspiration from Vittorio DeSica’s neorealist classic Bicycle Thieves, director Milad Tangshir crafts a raw, urgent portrait of life on the margins where, like in DeSica’s movie, something as simple as a bicycle can mean the difference between stability and destitution. Tangshir’s striking debut feature captures the fear, resilience, and fleeting moments of beauty and humor that define Issa’s existence. Delivering suspense while maintaining a humanistic perspective and diverging from DeSica in several fascinating ways, Anywhere Anytime sheds light on the fragile realities faced by the people we pass by every day. Co-screenwriter Giaime Alonge will join us in person to discuss the movie following the screenings.
Presented with support from UW Madison Department of French and Italian and Institute for Regional and International Studies National Resource Center
