19/03/2024 - Telling the story of a young homeless artist, Caroline von der Tann speaks of Naples falling victim to recent gentrification and explores the initiatives in place to help the marginalised

Once upon a time, on Vico Pazzariello in the historic centre of Naples, stood the Perzechella Theatre. There were also The Captain and Perzechella, in other words Angelo Picone and Giuseppina Andelora, activists for hospitality and solidarity; the heart and soul of cultural associations which play host to singing, dancing, book readings, poetry and good food; the creators of the “solidarity basket”, which is lowered down from a balcony to those who can’t even afford to buy bread: “Those who have, give. Those who don’t have, take”. By way of The Gospel According to Ciretta, screening in the Open Horizons line-up of the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, expert German documentary-maker based in Naples Caroline von der Tann depicts the final months leading up to Perzechella’s eviction, courtesy of the owners, from the historical chocolate factory which she transformed into a theatre. Evicted to make room for a holiday home, as is currently happening to thousands of residents in the city’s historical centre following the Covid pandemic.

von der Tann’s documentary doesn’t focus on the afore-mentioned couple but on a permanent  “guest” of the theatre: the titular Ciretta, whose real name is actually Ciro Granada, who is twenty years old and gifted with an exceptional voice, who previously sold his body in the alleys of Naples and is now a street performer. We see him wandering around the San Giuseppe district, just a few steps away from the Federico II University of Naples, selling lighters and freestyling rhymes. At night, Ciro sleeps in a sleeping bag on the theatre floor alongside Angelo Giordano, an elderly homeless man who talks like a cultured gentleman. Ciro is irresistible - a skilled persuader and a born storyteller. In “classic” documentaries, protagonists are usually asked to ignore the camera that’s following their every move. But Ciro looks right down the lens and interacts with the viewer as if making a video for social media (a caption at the end informs us that Ciro has since become a TikTok star), resulting in a fresh and current testimony of a social reality in the global capital of improvisation, theatrics, poetry, and, lest we forget, pizza. Any tendencies towards fairy-tales are obliterated by the total honesty and authenticity of what we’re shown, which is an unmitigated depiction of the struggles and marginalisation suffered in a big European city in the 21st century, which has fallen victim to gentrification, and of the subsequent selfless and unconditional, charitable response initiated by cultural and artistic organisations. So the council funds to support the association have been cut: Perzechella simply fires up the ovens in the old factory workshop and makes chocolate in the shape of pizza, Castel Nuovo and Piazza del Plebiscito to sell on the streets of Naples.

There are three things which Ciro loves more than anything. The first is Perzechella/Giuseppina, who took him in off the streets (“finding number 78 in the Smorfia: the prostitute”, the youngster jokes [Translator’s note: the Smorfia is a Neapolitan system where dreams and everyday life events are converted into numbers which are then used to play the lottery]). Next comes Naples, whose streets with nigh-on crumbling walls adopted him. And finally, there’s the Lady of Sorrows for whom Ciro is hyperbolic and ostentatious in his total and utter devotion… As the perfect sinner. He uses all the money he earns to organise a procession where the statue of the Madonna will “dance” to the gentle rhythm of castanets and inspire the envy of their “neighbours” in the Spanish Quarters. On the door to the workshop used by Tiziano - who helps him decorate the statue of the deposed Christ - there’s a phrase which would delight Philip K. Dick and Sigmund Freud: “Memories repaired here”. As Angelo, The Captain, has explained in an interview: “The most important monument in Naples is its people. We’re currently witnessing a real desertification in cultural and artistic terms. If the people disappear, Naples will never be the same again.”

The Gospel According to Ciretta is co-produced by Italian firm Parallelo 41 together with Germany’s Lucky Bird Pictures. Canadian outfit Syndicado Film Sales are acting as vendors.

(Translated from Italian)