Pompei: Below the Clouds

The film is about the bay of Naples and what surrounds it. The camera follows no story; it moves among the people who live and work there. Archaeologists dig and uncover a city buried under lava two thousand years ago. In the same area firefighters work, scientists measure the volcano, objects are moved in a museum and the daily life of the city goes on. Gianfranco Rosi writes and directs. It is shot in black and white. The music is by Daniel Blumberg. It is Rosi's third documentary about Italy, following one about the ring road around Rome and one about the island of Lampedusa. His method is to stay in a place for a long time and to use no narration. There is no explanation and no interview; the material is set side by side and the viewer makes the connection. The idea is time laid over time: the city under the ash and the people living today on the same ground enter the same frame, with Vesuvius standing over both. It screened in the main competition of the Venice film festival on 30 August 2025 and won the Special Jury Prize. The choice of black and white is functional inside the narrative; the visual difference between the dig and the city disappears. Who it is for: viewers who like observational documentary and slow cinema. Who it is not for: there is no narrative, no information is given, and the film proceeds without explaining anything.