Gianfranco Rosi on his street-set film ‘under the cloud’

Gianfranco Rosiwhich has gripped 2013. Venice Golden Lion with “Sacro Mrs”, returned to Lido with “Below the cloud. “It is a passionate personal research of Naples and its suburbs that lie under Vulcan Mount Vesuvius.

Shooted in black and white, “Under the clouds” Criss-crosses between different characters and situations. They include a teacher who runs an improvised actors, settled by the fears of locals, which is founded to follow the ancient graves and sailors on the ship, just as the clothes suit.

“I chose in all the characters, there is a spirit of civil resistance,” Rossi says, which three years old wandering the earth with his camera. It is therefore thanks to its producer Donatella Palermo, because no other producers would give me funds to stay three years in one place, giving me a lot of confidence. ”

Below, Rossi speaks Variety About the election made for “below the cloud,” starting from the title of the film, taking his sign from Jean Cocteau Citation: “Vesuvius makes all the clouds in the world.”

What stressed you in Naples and what was your approach to show this area?

I was in Naples like a tourist, and since I always felt there was a certain passage of time there. That gave me a great opportunity to experiment with a new approach. I always had the impression that Naples was this big space outside the screen, suspended between what it was and what it could be. This was a big challenge for me, except for the fact that I felt like I was in this huge time machine. CiformEviana – Networks running out of Naples around the mountain Vesuvius – is like huge monitoring that goes through space and history and creates this idea of ​​suspended time.

The film starts with the archival Foot, Roberto Rossellini’s “travel to Italy”, screened in an old, hand film theater. Talk to me about that choice.

I found this abandoned movie theater and requested permission to enter. And then I filmed him and I realized that all my archival shots had to show there. It seemed to me as if the archeological site – the theme of archeology in the film was quite repeated in my film. Stories that are buried, peeling walls, broken seats, destroyed screen. And then I brought some choices in terms of what to screen. Of course, I challenged Rossellini because he was my favorite director. Even before going to Naples, I thought about “traveling to Italy” when they go to Pompei.

How did you choose the movie movie?

It’s time here. When I arrived in Naples, I had no idea that there would be people in the movie. From the beginning, I decided to make a movie on Naples “other side”, on the Sarno Valley where all archaeological locations are. The first person I met, when I had my camera with me, he was the prosecutor. I went to Pompei in the film there and did a conference on the tomb robbers. I really loved him, so I introduced myself and told him I’d like to film him. He is a very busy guy, she always moves with the body guards. So he was the first person I met and the last person I made. But in all the characters I chose, there is this spirit of civil resistance. This is civilization. How Markarska Mead spoke, civilization starts when each of us did something for someone else.

I gained the impression that, compared to your other movies, it is more personal, intimate, work – a kind of flow of consciousness. Is that the case?

Yes, that is probably true, but what is important is that the audience will find the same element of freedom in the watching movie. My other movies had more than departure and the point of arrival. And there have always been political things or social drama in the background. There was always something you had to follow. Here, I didn’t have that element. I think every viewer will connect with this film depending on my own culture and its own curiosity. It is open to many different interpretations.

Talk to me about the editing process.

Unlike my previous films, we started working on editing from the start of recording. It was a steady process of rewriting, because for me it is what is editing. The fact that we changed since the beginning, they made a film a very precise structure.

Why did you shoot black and white?

It was a basic choice. When I found Jean Cocteau Cute that “Vesuvius makes all the clouds in the world,” although it was an extraordinary picture. I always take the clouds because they protect me from the shades, from the contrast. It led me to the title and the look of the film. Under the clouds there are no shadows. I had to learn to see the world around me, through shades of black and white. It is not aesthetic choice, it is a narrative choice.

Talk to me about your cooperation with Daniel Bloomberg (winner of 2025 Oscars for the best original result “Brutalist”, especially on the final scene.

His work is in a film in film in eight or nine scenes. I know Daniel 14 years old and I’ve always loved the way she experimented with music. At first I wanted to just ask music at the end. I tried all the things they didn’t work. So I went to London and spent 10 days with him. At first, we tried to insulate the final scene, but what we talked to more, I felt it could work on different parts of the film. I told him, “I want this to be sound shots, not the result.” Works with this amazing Saxor, but I want a sound where the instrument became unrecognizable. So when we were in his apartment, he said, “Let’s see how it sounds underwater.” We went to his bathtub and put underwater microphones in his bath. So this Sax has become this amazing transformed sound. We started putting this sound sound from that to different scenes.

When talking about an incredible underwater final scene, including fish and Roman artefacts, where and how did you record it?

We shot him in Baia, in Naples Bay (known as “Underwater Pompei”). We recorded with the crew because I was unable to go underwater. It was very difficult. Underwater shooting is usually manually, but I didn’t mean to. So I said, “Let’s put the camera down in one place and see what happens. Just a constant shot.” It is a unique shot. It was a big challenge, because nothing happens in this context. Then someone moved the sand below and what was discovered, based in the sand was amazing!

This interview is arranged and condensed for clarity.