Fortunately, Italian cinema still brings us beautiful, contemporary Neorealist films. This lively fiction feature debut from documentary director Marcello Sannino convinces and moves with a sketch of everyday life and survival in Portici, the old, multicultural part of Naples where Sannino himself grew up. With a superb eye for local details and a great cast, he tells a nuanced, unsentimental, empathetic tale.
His protagonist is 30-year-old Carmela (the title of the film refers to a line from a song with the same title: ‘You rose, rock, star’), who scrapes together a living doing a range of odd jobs. Her situation becomes more complicated when a deal to provide visas to illegal migrants through a lawyer goes badly wrong, leading to her being evicted from her home along with her mother and her eleven-year-old daughter Maria.
Film details
Country of production
Italy
Year
2020
Festival edition
IFFR 2020
Length
90'
Medium/Format
DCP
Language
Italian
Premiere status
World premiere
Director
Marcello Sannino
Screenplay
Marcello Sannino, Giorgio Caruso, Guido Lombardi
Editing
Giogiò Franchini
Sound design
Daniele Maraniello
Producer
Antonella Di Nocera, Gaetano Di Vaio, Pier Francesco Aiello
Production company
Parallelo 41 Produzioni, Bronx Film, P.F.A. Films
Sales / World rights holder
P.F.A. Films
Cinematography
Alessandro Abate
Production design
Antonio Farina
Music
Riccardo Veno
Principal cast
Ivana Lotito, Fabrizio Rongione, Ludovica Nasti, Imma Piro, Valentina Curatoli, Francesca Bergamo, Anna Redi