Comparing the film Terraferma as cultural and political text to media coverage of the Mediterranean immigration crisis, this paper expresses ideological criticism towards the EU and explores why Italian public institutions and policies cannot solve the unrolling immigration crisis. It also handles details and chances of communication dynamics between Lampedusa's local population and the North African immigrants. It further comparatively examines real and fabled media representations of the African Other and their methodological and epistemic effect on EU multicultural dynamics.