Competition: “Gomorrah” by Matteo Garrone

Organized crime casts its shadow on the day, with Gomorrah, adapted from Roberto Saviano’s bestseller about the Camorra, competing in the official Selection. This audacious dive into the heart of the Neapolitan underworld is directed by Matteo Garrone, who was at the Cannes Festival in 2002 with The Embalmer, selected by the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.

“The raw material I had to work with when shooting Gomorrah,” Garrone remarked, “was so visually powerful that I merely filmed it in as straightforward a way as possible, as if I were the passerby who happened to find myself there by chance. I thought this was the most effective way of reproducing the feelings I experienced during the time I spent making the film.”

The result is a true story within a story of the workings of the Naples crime families. A single rule, a single tool: violence. A single language: the gun. A single dream: power. A single fulfillment: blood. We look in on a few days in the life of those who dwell in a world devoid of mercy. As clan wars rage over various illicit business operations, Gomorrah traces the interlocking destinies of several characters trapped in the infernal web of the Camorra.