Below the Clouds

In Below the Clouds, filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi traverses the depths of Naples and its surroundings. A large part of the film takes place underground, where archaeologists uncover a Roman villa, firefighters investigate a system of clandestine tunnels, and museum curators manage a cellar full of stored treasures.

Below the Clouds during the Cineville Preview Days
Winner of the Jury Prize at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi (Sacro GRA, Fuocoammare) brings us close to life at the foot of Mount Vesuvius with Below the Clouds. Where Alice Rohrwacher’s La chimera (2023) offered a poetic dream version of underground Italy, Rosi’s stylish black-and-white documentary dives into the daily reality of archaeologists, grave robbers, and residents in the Gulf of Naples – a region weighed down by a past buried in ash, where the tombaroli happily dig illegal tunnels. For this film, director Rosi dug his own poetic tunnels over the course of three years, straight through all layers of time. The result is a melancholic portrait of an existence built on the threat of magma and eruption. A must-see for the biggest screen – see it during the Cineville Preview Days.