EXCLUSIVE: Mubi has set a Q1 2026 release for Gianfranco Rosi’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning documentary Below the Clouds in multiple territories, with a qualifying release this fall.
The global film distributor, streaming service and production company will release the film in North America, Latin America, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, India and Australia and New Zealand, for which it holds rights.
The work captures life between Mount Vesuvius and the Gulf of Naples, where the ground shakes periodically and the fumaroles of the Phlegraean Fields taint the air.
As with earlier films such as Fire at Sea and Notturno, Gianfranco Rosi’s latest work is a masterful act of cinematic immersion.
The film was shot in and around Naples over the course of three years with Rosi embedding himself in the communities in and around Vesuvius.
From the traces of history, memories of the subterranean world, and the concerns of the present, the black and white works reveals a lesser-known Naples, peopled by locals, worshippers, tourists, and archaeologists excavating a past that in museums will give new life and meaning to statues, fragments, and ruins.
The train that rings Vesuvius makes its rounds as racehorses train along the shore. A teacher runs a makeshift afterschool for children and adolescents. Firemen in their command center calm the fears of the locals who call in, law enforcement tracks down tomb robbers, while in the port of Torre Annunziata, Syrian tankers unload Ukrainian grain. The land that skirts the gulf is a vast time machine.
Below the Clouds marks the first black-and-white feature in over thirty years for Rosi, who made history in Venice in 2013, which his film Sacro GRA, which was the first ever documentary to be awarded the Golden Lion.
Below the Clouds is written and directed by Rosi, who is also responsible for the cinematography and sound, with editing by Fabrizio Federico in collaboration with Joe Bini and Music by Academy Award winner Daniel Blumberg.
The film is produced by Donatella Palermo, Rosi, Paolo Del Brocco, 21Uno Film srl, Stemal Entertainment srl, with Rai Cinema.
