Gaetano Di Vaio

Carmela is thirty, beautiful and as untamed as an horsewoman. She is jobless and struggles to get by on her own, doing small day-to-day tasks. She makes ends meet by making use of the immigrants who populate the maze of alleyways of Naples' old historic centre. A circle of hell where, even to get a residence permit, you have to pay to work

Salvo was five when his father Vincenzo was arrested, practically before his eyes. Seven years later Salvo lives with his uncles and his cousin a controlled and peaceful existence in the Turin area, but his father returns and claims his son for four days. Vincenzo has to carry an important load to Bari and brings Salvo (nomen est omen) with him as insurance: a child is better than a gun, he says, because his presence in the event of a possible police detention can have a distracting effect . This however is not the only reason why Vincenzo wants Salvo with him, and the "Salv-atore" child will prove to be a potential vehicle of redemption for that messed up father, but not entirely devoid of feelings and attentions.

In the Campania countryside, Pasquale Cardinale, an elder ranger, spends his days between alcohol and video poker. To settle the debts he organizes a scam of 200 white pure goldfinches, replacing them with common ones, but it will not end as expected.

Two brothers who own a buffalo farm near Caserta attempt to resist the pressures of local mobsters who want to turn their land into an illegal landfill.

The Spanish Quarter in Naples is a maze of alleys, squares, Baroque churches, and the “bassi”, the poor, teeming residential area behind Via Roma, the main thoroughfare. Yet the quarter is culturally far removed from the heart of the city: it's a world of its own, in which the young people spend their days looking for something to lift them out of their condition.

The Spanish Quarter in Naples is a maze of alleys, squares, Baroque churches, and the “bassi”, the poor, teeming residential area behind Via Roma, the main thoroughfare. Yet the quarter is culturally far removed from the heart of the city: it's a world of its own, in which the young people spend their days looking for something to lift them out of their condition.

Là-bas: A Criminal Education

Weaving together fact and fiction, this docudrama performs a portrait of the often seamy underside of the city of Naples.Ferrara traveled to Italy to interview the inmates at the Naples Pozzuoli State Prison, a high security lockup for women, and with the help of a translator he allows a number of women doing time to talk about their lives before and after they were convicted. Ferrara chose to expand the short profile of the prisoners into a feature by offering a look at life in the slums of Naples and the actions of a number of law enforcement officers and social workers struggling to improve conditions for the poor, as well as adding three short fictional segments shot of digital video gear.

Weaving together fact and fiction, this docudrama performs a portrait of the often seamy underside of the city of Naples.Ferrara traveled to Italy to interview the inmates at the Naples Pozzuoli State Prison, a high security lockup for women, and with the help of a translator he allows a number of women doing time to talk about their lives before and after they were convicted. Ferrara chose to expand the short profile of the prisoners into a feature by offering a look at life in the slums of Naples and the actions of a number of law enforcement officers and social workers struggling to improve conditions for the poor, as well as adding three short fictional segments shot of digital video gear.