Un anno all'improvviso

A look at the Nigerian mafia in the costal town of Castel Volturno in Italy.

A group of Neapolitan children roam the city in search of Christmas trees. They pile up their mysterious collection in an abandoned courtyard in the Quartieri Spagnoli.

John Turturro tells, shooting alleys and testimonies of real neapolitan people, the history and musical culture of Napoli, attending every event and tale with a song.

A documentary about the rebirth of the Neapolitan neighborhood Rione Sanità

A portrait of Naples and its inhabitants, in the words of the Neapolitans themselves. Two women gossip about a woman who committed suicide; a man sells tickets for a local tombola; a woman concerns herself about her elderly neighbour. By moving from person to person, the documentary gradually portrays this enigmatic city at the foot of the Vesuvius. James Baldwin once returned a writing assignment about Naples, because he utterly failed to grasp the city. A Neapolitan says: `Naples is a kaleidoscope of thousands of different souls. Their total defines the Soul of Naples.' The leitmotif is Caravaggio's painting Seven Works of Mercy (1607), made for an aristocratic charity that still exists. The documentary mirrors Caravaggio's clair-obscure in its patterns of poverty and wealth. Age-old alleys with subdued light contrast with the glittering chic of a genteel club. Slow aerial shots and poetic texts in voice-over interweave the separate stories.

When the director's life falls apart, he moves into a 1985 VW van, gets back to his Neapolitan roots, and discovers arrangiarsi, making something from nothing.