Gianfranco Rosi: slow cinema master in a digital world

PARIS:

In an era defined by viral videos and nonstop content, Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi has built a career on the opposite: slow, immersive, and meticulously observational cinema that won him Europe's top prizes, including the Golden Lion at Venice and the Golden Bear in Berlin.

The 61-year-old director's latest documentary, 'Sotto le nuvole' (Below the Clouds), released in France this week, offers a portrait of Naples far removed from clichés of pizza, football, or the mafia.

Rosi spent three years living in the city, filming a cross-section of residents — an after-school teacher, a sailor, archeologists and a call-centre operator — capturing their lives in long, looping sequences.

"I'm a director that doesn't go home to sleep. I'm always on location," Rosi told AFP. "Time is my biggest investment. Working alone allows me to wait for the right moment, to create intimacy, and wait for the right light."

Rosi is known for his fixed-lens, black-and-white cinematography, long pauses, and refusal to use narration or on-screen interviews. His observational style, first evident in 'Sacra GRA' (2013) and 'Notturno' (2020), relies on patience, immersion, and trust built with his subjects over years.

'Below the Clouds' meditates on time, linking Naples' chaotic present to its Roman past and the looming presence of Mount Vesuvius.

The sparse musical score by Britain's Daniel Blumberg underlines the film's reflective tone, which critics hailed at the Venice Film Festival in September.

For Rosi, who holds dual Italian-American nationality, the distinction between fiction and documentary is irrelevant. "It's not important that division for me," he said.

"What I feel close to is cinema," he added, reflecting a career devoted to slowing down a frantic world.