slow cinema in a digital world

In an era defined by viral videos and non-stop content, Italian director Gianfranco Rosi has built a career on the opposite: slow, immersive and meticulously observant cinema that has won him Europe’s top awards, including the Golden Lion in Venice and the Golden Bear in Berlin.

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

Rosi spent three years living in the town, filming a cross-section of residents—an after-school teacher, a sailor, archaeologists and a call center operator—recording their lives in long, looping sequences.

“I’m a director who 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, create intimacy and wait for the right light.”

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

“Under the Clouds” meditates on time, connecting Naples’ chaotic present with its Roman past and the looming presence of Vesuvius.

Britain’s Daniel Bloomberg’s sparse musical score underscores the film’s reflective tone, which was hailed by critics at the Venice Film Festival in September.

For Rosi, who has dual Italian-American citizenship, the distinction between fiction and documentary is irrelevant. “That separation is not important to me,” he said.

“What I feel close to is cinema,” he added, reflecting on a career dedicated to slowing down a frantic world.