“Drawing on Jean Cocteau’s idea that, “Vesuvius makes all the clouds in the world”, director Gianfranco Rosi opts for a black-and-white aesthetic, giving Naples an otherworldly appearance. This is a documentary without a narrator’s voice – the images speak for themselves. We don’t see a traditional, sunny Italy that we are all used to; instead, we observe a city seemingly covered in gray ash, and its people like archaeological finds, ghosts of the future, trapped between the glory of the past and the inevitable collapse of the future.” (Programme curator Karolis Žukas)