Italy, 2019, 110’, color, DCP
screenplay
Maurizio Braucci
Roberto Saviano
Claudio Giovannesi
taken from the novel of the same name by
Roberto Saviano
cinematography
Daniele Ciprì
editing
Giuseppe Trepiccione
music
Andrea Moscianese
Claudio Giovannesi
production design
Daniele Frabetti
costumes
Olivia Bellini
cast
Francesco Di Napoli [Nicola]
Ar Tem [Tyson]
Alfredo Turitto [Biscottino]
Viviana Aprea [Letizia]
Valentina Vannino [Madre di Nicola]
Pasquale Marotta [Agostino]
Luca Nacarlo [Cristian]
Carmine Pizzo [Limone]
Ciro Pellecchia [Lollipop]
Renato Carpentieri [Don Vittorio]
producers
Carlo Degli Esposti
Nicola Serra
production
Palomar
with Vision Distribution
in collaboration with
Sky Cinema
Tim Vision
world sales
Six boys race on their scooters through the narrow streets of their Sanità neighbourhood in Naples. Nicola, Briatò, Lollipop & Co. are fearless daredevils, desperate to make money like their role models, and wear designer clothes and the latest sneakers. These 15-year-olds use the city’s rooftops for assault rifle practice. They deal drugs and do not hesitate to use their weapons to take control of the neighborhood. Their smart leader, Nicola, knows the rules: in order to get his gang into the game and quickly to the top, he challenges one of the old bosses. But whoever is in charge today may well be dead tomorrow. When his girlfriend gets Nicola caught between all fronts, he is forced to make a decision.
"Piranhas is about the relationship between adolescence and a life of crime, and the impossibility of combining the two and really experiencing a teenager’s most important feelings, love and friendship. The film shows how a fifteen-year-old and his friends the same age lose their innocence. The main character Nicola’s decision to get into crime gradually becomes irreversible, taking over his life and forcing him to sacrifice his first love and his friends. Experiencing the key emotions of adolescence, as a criminal, is impossible: the character is bursting with the need to, yet he no longer can." [Claudio Giovannesi]
The director, screenwriter and musician Claudio Giovannesi was born in Rome, Italy, in 1978, and has made both feature films and documentaries. His films have screened at numerous international festivals and have won a number of awards, including Italy’s Silver Ribbon. He was one of the nine directors to work on 9x10 Novanta, a compilation documentary that screened at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. He has also directed two episodes of the television series Gomorrah.
2019 La paranza dei bambini
2016 Fiore
2014 Il mio dovere di sposa [short, in 9X10 Novanta]
2013 Wolf [doc]
2012 Alì ha gli occhi azzurri
2009 La casa sulle nuvole
2009 Fratelli d’Italia [doc]
2005 L’uomo del sottosuolo [short]
