President shot back at claims that his administration was not running smoothly. Pres. Trump this administration is running like a finetuned machine, despite the fact that i cannot get my cabinet approved, and they are outstanding people. Alison joining me now from washington is ed okeefe of the washington post. Ed, welcome. Ed great to be with you, allison. Alison it was quite a day. Tell me a little bit more about alexander acosta, the new nominee for labor secretary. Ed well, he would be Donald Trumps first hispanic nominee to his cabinet, and a notable inclusion for a cabinet that so far, at least, did not include many other minorities. He is currently the dean of the law school of Florida International university and a former top federal prosecutor in south florida. He has held positions in the Justice Department before and has been confirmed to positions by the senate, so the white house feels that this one should be much more easy going man the puzder pick, which got caught up in a host of issues regarding his personal background, his business practices, and his own personal Employment Practices in his own home, if you will. Alison lets talk about that a little bit. Explain to people why support from republicans specifically, started to unravel . Ed yes, as of wednesday, there were at least a dozen republicans telling top leaders they just could not support this guy. Look, he has had a checkered past. He is the head of the restaurant firm that owns hardees and carls jr. , and has been a supporter of President Trump, and also a supporter of mitt romney in the past. He has a pretty reputable business record. But, there were concerns about a rancorous divorce he had from his first wife in the late 1980s that led to her appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1990, in disguise, to discuss allegations of domestic abuse. He has always denied this and she later recanted it. In addition to that, over the course of the ethics review going on in the last few weeks, he admitted to senators that at one time, he had employed a housekeeper who was an undocumented immigrant. If there is one ageold rule in washington, even in Donald Trumps washington, it is that the senate does not confirm somebody who once employed an undocumented housekeeper. This goes back to bill clintons presidency, it has tripped up all sorts of nominees ever since. On that issue, it seems to be more than any other, the republican senators saying, how can we have a labor secretary who could not even follow federal labor laws that required him to pay taxes for his housekeeper, and employ people who are here legally . Alison this press corps really wanted to talk about Michael Flynn. And really wanted to talk about who knew what, when . Did we get any sort of clarity there . Ed well, the president made clear throughout the News Conference that for him, the issue was not that Michael Flynn was having conversations with people in russia. It was that he lied to the Vice President and had done so more than once. And he said, look, to me, i do not have a problem with him speaking with russian officials, this is what people do during the transition, they talk to people in other countries, those officials in other countries, which is true. There were obama officials doing that during their transition. But they were not discussing sensitive matters like sanctions against that country. And trump mostly batted it away. But oddly, he would say, you know, the leaks are true, but the news is fake, essentially to paraphrase the president today. On at least one occasion. And that left the reporters scratching their heads. Asking, wait a second, in essence, you are confirming it, but you are slapping us at the same time for bothering to report it . And it caused a spirited, if not if sometimes testy exchanges. What was marvelous about this, and remarkable was that it was so freewheeling and it went on for about one hour and 15 minutes. It was unexpected. This was not on the official calendar when the day began. It was hastily arranged. Mostly to talk about acostas nomination for labor secretary. And it evolved into this freewheeling conversation with reporters that touched on not only flynn, but also the first lady and her status at the white house. And even immigration. And of course, the travel ban, which still faces legal challenges across the country. Alison did he signal of all at all what will be his next priority . Ed he did say at the prompting of a reporter that there will be changes regarding the travel ban and those issues next week. He did not get into specifics, but made clear there are some changes coming. We had anticipated that and he confirmed it. He said this issue for him, at least, is not going away. He was also asked about the program for children of undocumented immigrants in this country, an obamaera program he said he had wanted to undo as quickly as possible. He admitted it is one of the most difficult situations he is dealing with as president and he does not necessarily want to deal with it, because it is about kids and as a father and grandfather, he is sensitive to their condition. That will cause a lot of consternation for those conservatives that backed him specifically on the immigration issue, believing he would come into office to authorize a border wall and end that program. He has authorized the border wall and he is waiting for the money to pay for it. And now he says he is not going after that program. But, alison, frankly, it is only thursday. Tomorrow could be another story. Alison something that happened that was interesting, something the media has been criticized about, there was Fact Checking of President Trump in real time about his number of Electoral College votes. How did that end up . Ed it was nbcs peter alexander, to his credit, who brought up the fact that the president has repeatedly said he had the largest vote count, he count, of recent republican president s. He keeps saying 306, it is 304. Peter alexander pointed out that president bush in 1988 had more. More than 400. The president quickly said that that was the information he was given. In f in essence, he was caught in a lie. And we were able to see the president react to the fact that he was being fact checked in the front row. He took it in stride, but it speaks again to the fact that this remains a president , now into the second month of his presidency, who remains really, deeply concerned about being taken seriously, and is still, for whatever reason, eager to settle scores from more than a year ago. He is in charge, he is making change in policies, but he still spends time talking about Hillary Clinton and whether she was handed information about what would be asked at those democratic primary debates about her work as secretary of state and the fact he believes, wrongly, that he had won one of the largest electoral vote count s in the election. Alison lets look forward. He has a rally this weekend. What is this . Ed a rally being paid for by his reelection campaign. He is headed to florida to get back in touch with the regular people, the folks who supported him, into a corner of florida where he enjoyed broad support. Look, he is starting to do things that president s normally do. Today at a News Conference, he blamed the previous administration. Barack obama did that a lot early on, referring to george bush. And he is getting out into the country, talking to regular everyday americans, and explaining his policies to them. To be reenergized by the support of the people that he is interacting with. President obama did that a lot as well especially in the second , term. Donald is going to be doing it as well. We had been told early on that he was probably going to do this and we will see how it goes. But the fact is being paid for fact that it is being paid for by his campaign is interesting because that means , it is designed overtly to be a political rally. He is not going to florida to meet with the governor or do Something Else official. And then go to a fundraiser. No, he is going to florida for a political rally that the white house says is being paid for by his political organization. Alison ed okeefe. Of the washington post. Thank you so much. Ed great to be with you. Alison good evening, im Alison Stewart filling in for charlie rose. Maya angelou was an author, poet, activist, actress and dancer. Her writings about race and america are some of the most influential works of the past century. Maya angelou and still i chronicles her life and her s still i rise, chronicles her life and her legacy. Here is a look at the trailer. Every man in the world uses words. A writer must take these known things and put them together in such a way that a reader says, i never thought of it that way before. My mothers boyfriend raped me. I was seven. So i stopped speaking for five years. In those five years, i read every book in the black school library. When i decided to speak, i had a lot to say. Maya was a dancer. She sang, she was an actress. She was a beautiful sculpture. Of course, she was a writer. Maya when i reach for the pen to write, i have to scrape against those scars. Maya was responsible for teaching me why i should know more about my roots. I remember her being very angry. Very angry. My mother taught me a lot about justice. The love of doing what is right. I know why the caged bird sings, it was a very important literary feat. Caged bird was really almost another bible for me. It was the opening for me to wanting to be a writer. It was the first time i read something that resonated. It touched a very young, girlish part of me. It reflected my own mothers life. When i read it, i could not believe that she was free enough to talk about this. I read those words and i thought somebody knows who i am. She was big and she had the voice of god. Out of the hood of historys shame, i rise. Up from a path rooted in pain, i rise. I am a black ocean leaping and wide. Welling and swelling i bring in bear in the tide. Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave. I am the hope and the dream of the slave. And so i rise. I rise. I rise. Alison joining me now are the films directors, bob hercules and rita coburn whack, and colin and the producer cofounder of the caged bird legacy. Welcome. I am pleased to have all of you the table. Thank you. Alison rita, you had an interesting relationship with maya angelou, you were her radio producer. Tell me about the evolution of your role as a radio producer to the person who would document her life . Rita well, you know sometimes , you feel like as a filmmaker that everything that has happened has prepared you for what will happen next. And though i have done both radio and television, when i went into her home to do that program, it meant from 20062010, i spent three to four days a month with her, and i did not know at the time how much information i was gathering, how i was learning her family, how i was learning that president clinton might call. And we might do in interview with Bishop Desmond tutu. People would come by. And so, hearing and headset i , in the headset i realized , this is a documentary. The best way to do that is to pull together her work. I had been rereading her work as a result of the job, so i knew that it was time to do it again, to bring it to a new format. So that more people might not be reading, but we needed to reach a wider berth. That is when things started to come together and i met bob as well. Alison how did she feel about the idea of documenting her life . Rita she said three things first, she said, i do not need another thing. Because she had done seven autobiographical memoirs. She then said, did i know what i was asking . And i really didnt. Part of it was i asked her to go over her life when she had already done it. I think that became cathartic. But he also was saying, do you know how big this story is . Do you know what this industry is like . And do you want to do this . And it will take you all over the world. She did not need to say that. It did those things and i am still answering that question. And the last thing she said, if you are going to take it, take it all the way. Which meant, you better do a good job. And i think thats what we tried to do, yeah. [laughter] alison that made you laugh, colin. Why did that make you laugh . Colin classic grandma. [laughter] colin dont do anything halfway. All right . Alison we will clean that up. [laughter] alison it amazed me that nobody had done a documentary about maya angelou. D you know why that was . And what made you think, ok, i am someone that could accomplish this . Bob it was amazing. Rita and i did not know each other in 2011 when we started and i was musing about her one day. I have a picture of myself with her from a project i did with her years ago, and just thinking about her, i did some research and, as you said i was amazed , that nobody had ever made a film about maya angelou. It was shocking to me given the breadth of her story and how important she is in our culture. So, i started to research and reread the books and get prepared. And then i was introduced to rita through a mutual friend. And so i think our combined talents came together beautifully to make this film. It was a fiveyear project, but it was a phenomenal five years and an incredible journey. Really. And it was a great privilege, really, to be the ones to tell her story in a television format. Alison i want to ask you a very frank question. I know why i relate to maya angelou. And why you, as africanamerican women. What related to you as a white male . Bob that is a good question. I remember when i read, i remember when i read, i know why the caged bird sings, and i grew up in michigan, and a white community, middleclass, very far removed from the africanamerican community. But when i read that book, and i had read a few others similar to that, but that book especially because it is written , in a poetic style, and it is so honest. It is so unbelievably honest that it really caught me, and it made me in a way reevaluate my place as a white male, privileged person, etc. It was one of those books that really hit me really hard in a good way. Alison i want to pick up on something you said about maya angelou having to relive her life, and in the parts that were incredibly painful. And many joyous. What was that like to watch her go through that process and what was it like for her going through the process of narrating her own life . Rita i think, again, that it was cathartic for her. When she decided to do it with everything, she would not do anything halfway. As colin mentioned. She would bring her total self to it, so when you see the film, you will see moments when she is overcome with emotion. She relives it. And moments when she is hilarious. Because she and she is not even trying to be, she just thinks back back on that particular instance. Sometimes it was painful to watch her go back there. It was also painful because she was a patient of copd, and it wasnt widely known, and we could basically do about one hour of interviews and then she had to rest. Alison she had oxygen . Rita she needed oxygen. So for her to want to do it that much but once she committed to it, she was 100 there. And i like to say that when you are doing a subject for a subject matter, you are responsible, and you have to be sensitive that you are working with a human being, and you are working with their spirit and their soul, and she is in her 80s. You are working with her life. Veryave to be very, respectful of that and let the story carry you and let her have the time and space to tell it and that is what we tried to do. Alison as her grandson, while watching your grandmothers life, hearing all the details some of the gritty, difficult , details, what was that like for you, just knowing her as grandma . Colin i dont think i knew her as just grandma. Alison interesting. Colin i think that my grandma has been open with me, and as she has been with all of the people in her life, she is an open book. Willing to talk about any area of her life. So many of the hardest things , she was talking about, i knew about. We had talked about it, we had had conversations about. I think for me, i was thinking about thinking about this story in one sitting, you sit around the table for 3040 years and you hear these stories, one here , what happened this year, you are skipping years, going back and forth. But this is total start to finish. That gave me the full understanding of the magnitude of who she was. What she traversed to get to who she became. That it wasnt one day that she woke up that she decided to be this powerful woman, it was a test of cut after cut, success and failure and heartbreak and joyfulness that brought her to that point and the point of clarity, one of her biggest skills, clarity on life and human beings. Alison that is interesting because if you look at it from beginning to end, i wonder as you listen to these interviews, was there something about her that never changed . Colin well, she was always steadfast in being courageous. I think that is the thing the throughline of her life with all the disappointment and joy in whatever happened to her, she was enormously courageous. And she only said one of her favors famous sayings courage , is the thing she valued the most because you cannot go on without having courage. That to me is what i witnessed in following her life story, she had the courage, she had the courage to suddenly go to africa on fairly short notice, to just experience that world. In africa. And to engage in the civil rights movement. To become friends with both Martin Luther king and malcom x. And at that point, though there , was a divide there. I just admire her courage and her ability to overcome obstacles constantly. It was amazing to me. Alison what do you think, reader were maybe 23 decisions , she made that really set the course of her life . Rita well, as bob said, and we have all alluded to, there is a through line and when we found that line, we began the documentary with this quote, you may incur defeats, but you must not be defeated. That was true for her and i think it is true universally for all of us. I think that the fact that she lost her voice, and decided in and of herself a couple of things she was raped, but she stopped speaking because she had enough inside of her to say as horrible as that was, she did not want anybody to die. That is a very high level, intellectual process for a sevenyearold girl. Alison because her rapist was killed. Rita right. So, she decided not to speak because she did not want anybody else to die. That is very humanitarian. The other thing is is that the people in her life who loved her, at the point they loved her, helped her to grow, and she was able to accept the love of her fraternal grandmother, even though her mother had rejected her. Her mother and father rejected her at that time. And here you have a woman, grandma henderson, that runs a store, and is an entrepreneur that sells, that has land for white people. I mean who did you have to be in , the jim crow south . And this is somebody that she just saw by osmosis every day. And the teacher that allowed her to learn poetry again and to eventually speak. And who doesnt, at some point in their life have a good , teacher . And then the love of her brother, bailey. A cheerleader a man beside her , who was not after anything, but her goodwill and the best for her. I think those things helped to build her and focus her as a person. Later on she did have a better , relationship with her mother and a struggle with rejection. But by then, she was supported , really, organically by a community that we hope will exist for all of us, that we need very much. People who would teacher. Uncle willy, who would teacher. All of the components were there for education, faith, for love, genuine brotherly love. I think those things supported her. And because she saw them early, she had a sensitivity to a handicapped person, the racism. I will say that she crossed the color lines later in the jim crow south to marry a white man, which meant two in fact, which meant that she understood reconciliation and forgiveness. Alison we talked about the spiritual side, but what about her saucy, sassy youth . [laughter] alison i do not think a lot of people know that she was such a performer. There are great clips in the film and lets take a look at one of them. [begin video clip] i stopped dancing and started singing. Maya angelou. [applause] i talked friends of mine into going to this little club in the late 50s. And what i remember is maya. Aking her entrance very tall, very grand. No shoes. [singing] she was an original, that is an understatement. She was exact and refined with her movements. She was limbs, she was a beautiful sculpture. [singing] alison what a performer. And she became a performer all through her life. I understood her Better Seeing that earlier footage. What did you think when you first saw that . When you first encountered . Rita what i thought was, here she was a young woman at that time period. How many women were doing what she was doing . And she already had a young son. And so, she was bringing all of that to herself. And i talked to her about it once. And they had put down that she was from cuba and she was exotic on the album. She wasnt, but they needed that to sell it. And the things she had to go through during that time, i just thought it was extraordinary. A lot of courage, then, to decide. And she would tell you, i really wasnt a singer. But she sang. She wasnt really a cook but she , cooked. She did what she had to do in order to survive through those times. And as she kept doing things, she became stronger and more courageous and more knowledgeable about our culture. In very many facets of it. Bob people dont understand, in those years she was struggling to make a living. She had a very young son, guy johnson, and she was really struggling. So she was dancing, later she , ended up singing because she would get more money to sing. So she made decisions like that because she had to. Its hard to imagine that this towering icon that we think of in maya angelou was actually in the 1950s and 1960s, struggling to keep things together and raise a son without a husband. It was not an easy life. It looks like a lot of fun, but it is a lot of work. Colin singing also, i believe, really is what makes her attainable. If you really look at her speaking engagements, there is a melody to it, a harmony, there is tension and relief. She knows how to deliver a message. And almost everyone of her speaking engagements starts with her singing. It sets the tone. And the rest of it flows. I think she utilized that later on. She was a cook before, and later on in life she was a chef. So, its, she used all those moments and training to bring her forward. Doing everything 100 , she brought everything to the table every moment she was there. Bob she would start every singing first. Just to get warmed up. It is amazing to watch. Rita i think the love of music continued because she would interview for the Radio Program and she loved country music. We did not get it in the film, but martina mcbride, she had opened for her. Brooks and dunn, she is in their videos. Somebody sent her a guitar, a 10,000 guitar and she started taking guitar lessons. And this was when i knew her in 2006. So she kept ever growing, but she loved the music, she loved the lyricism of life actually. And i think that is one of her quotes, too, everything dances. And, you know she had a melody , to her. Alison in watching her entire life i was struck by her , adaptability while maintaining who she was. Toward the end of the film, you. If you some people who who talk , about when she first encountered hiphop music. She sort of understood what it was, but she was not so sure about the way that language was used. Why was she able to adapt and maintain herself . What do you think . Colin the reality is kind of what we have been saying. My grandma was a lover of the arts and she supported art in any form. She said that which is human cannot be foreign to me. Right . So if you created it, i do not care what country or instrument, musical brand, if it is music and it is coming from your heart i can resonate with it. I do not think she separated , put artificial walls between her and different types of music. I think she believed in reaching out to young people and understanding if she did not embrace hiphop, that was a segment of people that she was not going to be attainable to her. That is why she made friends with common, had stories about tupac and saw mike tyson in jail because he asked her to come see , him. She went to the president spoke to him. She did not separate herself and she went to the prison and spoke to him. She did not separate herself and i think that she felt like her pathway for was youth. If you do not get them on board, where will you go . Rita i heard her say, she once said to me that people in her age group should be ashamed to die, that they did not do enough for the younger people. And when we did the weekly radio show over the course of four years, there was a point when i told her that i thought she should speak with the rappers. And she was like, i dont know about that. I said, but they are the poets of today, that is what is happening. And we did a show with kanye west, common, and a christian ay quest. Med j and she read the words of their work and even though some of them, she said, it cannot carry the necessary comportment, she did go through that and she would say, maybe they will stop using some of those words in their time. But she said, i will not let that separate me from them. And so i think that she wanted that, that artistry of generations. It was something she grew up with, being raised by a much older woman and then having her brother. It was just the cities and towns of arkansas and living in hawaii, and living in egypt, and living in london, and living in ghana, and living in new york and st. Louis. It, it, it wasnt something that many people did, so you can actually track history through her life, american and international history, in a much more colorful way than being given facts. And lets be honest, history has not been told from a black womans point of view. And so that is one of the things this documentary does, it gives this documentary does, it gives you a little bit more than an oral history because of the research and you will see over 314 photographs that were pulled from 4000, video pulled from over 150 hours. And so, that was her life. She was so well documented, and self documented with seven autobiographical memoirs and 36 books before she died. So. Alison what did you learn about your grandmother after watching the film and going through the process of talking about her and thinking about her life . Colin i have been asked that before. I do not know that i particularly learned one fact , particularly, about her life. I mean, i am her only grandson. So, i spoke to her for 41 years. [laughter] colin she wanted me to understand her story. Understand the thing she went through. Not to pump herself up, but because it was family and this is history. She is my angelou maya angelou. What i really have learned is it is more about how other people received here. We have gone to multiple screenings and one of the things we saw at the academy of motion pictures, a woman said she saw the documentary and felt healed. I think that her story is such a powerful story, that people maybe you have read only one book, or maybe sell the clinton or clintons inauguration, adth ofd not see the bre it. And this womans wind was taken away. When you see the full story, that is the full impact of energy is coming to life and that is something i am proud of and having rita and bob being part of this, this would not have happened in any other way if they had not come together and formed a relationship with my grandma. I am just standing here proud to , be her grandson and carrying her legacy a little further down the road. Alison so, the best piece of advice she gave you as grandma not maya angelou . ,just as grandma. [laughter] colin always eat the food given to you at someone elses table. [laughter] for me, the biggest thing that she gave me was the statement that she said, she was then hand at the small of my back, she would never let me fall. And that means she has watched out for me before and continues to watch out for me now. And i have multiple pieces of evidence of her continuing in my life. Alison colin johnson, thank you so much. Rita coburn whack and bob hercules, thank you so much. Maya angelou and still i rise. Thank you so much. It it premieres tuesday, february 21 at 8 p. M. Eastern on pbs. When we come back, we talk to the director of fire at sea. John good evening, im john micklethwait, editorinchief of bloomberg, filling in for charlie rose. Fire at sea is the new oscarnominated documentary from Gianfranco Rosi. The film is set in the italian island of lampedusa, which has played a Critical Role in the european migrant crisis. It is closer to tunisia than italy. Half a Million People have landed there. Nearly 30,000 have died. Scott of the New York Times writes, mr. Rosi does not spare his viewers glimpses of pain. The film is impressionistic and intensely absorbing. Here is the trailer for fire at sea. [sound of waves crashing] [speaking in foreign language] [engine revving] [speaking in foreign language] [helicopter whirring] your position . Please, your position . Help us please. How many people . We have small children. Please help we are sinking. [helicopter whirring] [water splashing] [indiscernible] [water splashing] [engine noise] [indiscernible] [speaking in foreign language] [singing] [speaking foreign language] your position . Hello . [end video clip] john i am very pleased to have Gianfranco Rosi at this table for the first time. Perhaps you can begin by describing a bit lampedusa, what is it like, this island closer to tunisia than italy . Gianfranco yes. Closer to tunisia then italy. Tunisia. And most of the time out of any maps, so you know, it is a little tiny spot in the middle of the sea, which is mostly unknown. And more now becoming somehow the reference for the humanitarian crisis. John has it always been welcoming to refugees . Gianfranco lampedusa has been, for the last 50 years, it has been the getaway of europe, on the border of europe and is a beacon of freedom, which for the last 50 years, or more than 500,000 people have landed on lampedusa. And unfortunately, more than 27,000 people died. They told me just recently 7000 people died in the Mediterranean Sea. So the Mediterranean Sea is like , a cemetary. And these are people that we know died. John do you think that there is Something Special about the island . At one point, one of the characters says, the fishermen collect things from the sea. Gianfranco when i was there, the first time i went in there, i did not know much about the island. And i was studying, if i was able to make this film, there was a person that kind of took me into the movie and said, you need to tell the story to the world, this tragedy. And when asking what happened, all these years, lampedusa was always embracing people. And he told me something profound, he said the fishermen always welcome anything that comes from the sea. So maybe we should learn to have the soul of a fisherman. The soul of a fisherman in ourselves. John it is an amazing film. Partly because of the mixture between heaven and hell. You have this obvious hell, which you show on the boats, including the dead sometimes. But you also have heaven, which seems heavenly by comparison, this island. You choose deliberately characters who are not welloff, that are poor, the main character is this boy. I am just going to ask you about. And he is not having a particularly happy life, but his life seems idyllic in some ways compared to the people out on the ocean. Gianfranco of the characters, first there were encounters for me. I went to lampedusa and at first i did not know anything about the island, i did not know the people. And i remember for me it was very important to meet the people that somehow became, i started this journey with. I spent one and a half years in lampedusa. And each of them, when i met them, somehow had an incredible link with the past. With the world. Almost like an archetype. And when i met the boy. I knew from the beginning, i wanted to have the point of view of a kid in the story, because it would allow the certain freedoms. You dont have to talk about migrants. But then i realized that also his story, his daily life would take me always beyond lampedusa, you know . Everything he does, in this small life, his daily small events on life, he brings it to, my thought to the crisis. And somehow the film is a comingofage film. It is the harshness of a boy to grow up and deal with life. Through his inner words, we discover our difficulties to deal was something that we dont know. Which is somehow in that case the crisis, the migrants asking for help outside of lampedusa. So anything he does is always like suspension and somehow , reminding us of something that is there arriving to the island. John did you choose him at all, because he is not an idyllic kid. He is one who wonders around with catapults, trying to hit birds. He is a little bit of a wastrel to put it mildly. , gianfranco he is like the woody allen of lampedusa. His own idiosyncrasies, little daily fight, his anxiety, his lazy eye, there is always an element of you poking something evoking Something Else. When i met him, i remember he was playing with his slingshot and i was looking at him and asking, how good are you . And he said, very good. He put like a little broom and put it far away. He aimed at the broom and hit it and he turned to me and said, you need passion in life. [laughter] and since that moment i knew was going to be the protagonist of my film. John you do not do question and answer, like this. You always do a fly on the wall view, you show things and do not interrupt. Gianfranco one of my mentors told me, he said, you ask one question and you have one answer, you have 10 questions you have 10 answers, you must go deeper into things. So sometimes for me it is important to let life unfold in front of the camera. [speaking foreign language] john you let death unfold and it is powerful. Gianfranco on the border of europe, there was something extremely painful and dramatic, shooting in the middle of the sea when i encountered that, one of the rescues that the world was participating in. I spent more than 40 days in this navy vessel on the Mediterranean Sea. And that day they literally had a body arriving and i asked, should i film this or not . I had a split second. And i realized it was a tragedy that the world had to see. It is inconceivable and unacceptable so many people die trying to cross the sea and escaping from tragedy, from war, from hunger. And i met once this man and he told me, i asked him, why what made you do this, when you know you might die . And he told me, looking me in the eyes, it was the word might. Might, for us, is hope. In libya, we will die. But if we cross the sea, he might survive. So lampedusa for these people it is a hope, it is a light, it is a beacon of freedom. Unfortunately, we do betray more often, the hope for these people, they are brought into italy and the mainland. They start asking for their status of residency. John did you want to intervene at all . When you were in the migration center, places like that, did you want to do something . Gianfranco well, i felt very strong, the harshness and the difficulties of filmmaking when i was there. Most of the time i was talking to the people to understand the fear of those things. Also, when i was on the boat. When there was a dramatic scene, i was very rarely able to put the camera in between me and them without feeling the obstacle that the camera was creating. But somehow, i was able to grab the moment which was important to let people know that beyond those numbers there is a moment, there is somebody looking at you and asking for help. John im intrigued. In america, a place where immigrants are normally lauded, they say the cowards never left and the week died on the way, immigrants are a good thing. Yet, there is not much sympathy in america in terms of immigrants. You went and protested at the l. A. Airport, i think . Gianfranco it was the day that i arrived at the l. A. Airport. It was a day where somehow they work announcing something very terrible. People could not arrive anymore. John these are the same people gianfranco the same people that were in lampedusa. People coming out of the tragedy of syria, of things, of the war that is there. And then, sadly, for me it was terrible to come to the states and see fear in the face of the people. This is something that i never experienced. John fear in terms of trying to stop people coming through . Gianfranco they were not able to arrive in the places they were leaving. Living. I have many iranian friends in los angeles. But lawyers, people in tears. To witness this, they gave me a sense of shock and what was happening. I asked, what happened when america turns its back to history . What happens when america stops . John why call it fire at sea. Explain that . Gianfranco it is the name of a song. It is related to a tragedy during the Second World War when a ship that was on fire, bombed by a british airplane. There was a fire outside where many people died, it was a tragedy. And what is fascinating is when you hear the song, you hear it everywhere. It is almost the name of the island. It is early curious, i keep hearing this song and it is always grabbing your attention. And then after i asked, what is the meaning of this song . What is the name of this . It is fire at sea. They told me the story. The song is, the likeness of it was important because on my way, on lampedusa, you can laugh. Though it is linked to a tragedy. John yes there are moments of lightness. But the theme is linked to a tragedy. You said he did not like taking pictures with a blue sky, you would rather have a stormy sky. Gianfranco it is difficult. For me, every day becomes trying to find the right image and , the right moment, and bringing the camera. Most of the experience without the camera, i spent three months before we started shooting in lampedusa. Because i have to know the people, i have to encounter the people. That is, for me, what is more important about my work, creating trust. And when i bring the camera, it brings Something Else, the transformation of things. I always, the unknown, i put a camera and something happens that i did not expect. And also it becomes an incredible relationship, the camera breaks and transforms into other things. So for me, waiting for the clouds, maybe postponing the day i have to shoot. Ok, today the sky is blue. I have to wait for tomorrow. Postponing they, day of the shooting. As i said, it is very painful for me when i put the camera there and change things. It is not about gaining things in a film. John do you hope that this film will change things for the refugees . Gianfranco well, this is i have been asked this so many times and people ask, what do you think this film will bring . I am very aware that no art or film can change the course of history, but somehow i hope that this can create awareness. ,hey just came back from japan going to 64 countries, a few days ago. And many times people come up to me and said, what can i do . If 10 people come out of the cinema and ask, what can i do, that is an incredible achievement. There is a moment in this film where there is a sound, it is a cry of help from the people that are sinking in the middle of the sea and during the night screaming help, help, help. And the guy from the coast guard says, what is your position . What is your position . For me, that is an important thing. I want to reverse things, people asking what is my position and towards this tragedy . And what can i do . I think i reached two people asking all the time these questions and witnessing the tragedy from the past years. John well, your film is a very eloquent presentation in that case. Gianfranco rosi, thank you for being on the show. Gianfranco thank you to you. It was a pleasure. Thanks. Jason welcome back to bloomberg best, the sports summit. Im jason kelly. Ever since the very first olympics, the world of sports has been evolving. Athletes have become stronger, faster, more talented. Today the money behind the business has skyrocketed. From billiondollar franchises in deals to Game Changing technology, we are at a critical point in the industry. But is this type of growth sustainable . The leaders of the industry to find out at the Bloomberg Business summit. There seems to be a huge appetite on the part of buyers in the spor w