A Ciambra

Pio Amato is a fourteen-year-old kid, like all boys of his age he wants to be a “man”. A wannabe Mafioso, in reality Pio is more of an Artful Dodger, picking pockets and stealing luggage to help boost the finances of his extended family, all attempting to live outside the law in The Ciambra, a crumbling apartment block in Calabria, Italy. Pio’s boyish charm makes him unique in his ability to slide between the region’s different factions - the Mafia, the African migrants, the Romani and the Italians - and thereby manage an almost frictionless trade in stolen goods. When Cosimo and his father are arrested Pio is determined to fill their shoes, but is he willing, or even able, to make the sacrifices necessary to become a man? From executive producer Martin Scorsese, Jonas Carpignano carves an urgent and affecting drama with the raw spirit and passion of Bicycle Thieves. (Peccadillo Pictures)