A Ciambra

118 minutes • 2017 • 6.9

With an elusive look and a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, the clever fourteen-year-old Pio Amato tries to convince the family that he is old enough to be given more responsibility. When his father Rocco and big brother Cosimo - both diligent scammers and Pio's great role models - end up in jail for stealing electricity, the enterprising fourteen-year-old designates himself as the family's new head and breadwinner. And when he also gets to know the adult Ayiva from Burkina Faso better, Pio's life takes a new direction.

Fast-paced and aesthetically eminent A Ciambra depicts the lives of Roma and African immigrants in Gioia Tauro at the tip of the Italian boot, where they do what they can to survive in a society that looks at them with suspicion and disgust. The Italians treat the Roma people miserably, and the Roma people in turn treat the immigrants from Africa in the same way. This unofficial sequel to the critically acclaimed Mediterranea (2015) depicts everyday life in a society that is strongly underrepresented on film, and draws a credible portrait of a boy who grows up faster than he benefits from.