“It’s a film reclaiming the narrative that has been lost in series about Naples, where crime is front-and-centre”: Victoria Fiore on Nascondino

Nascondino or Hide and Seek is the debut feature documentary from director Victoria Fiore, developed from 2017 short film Fire Games of Naples, that, through the eyes of a young boy called Entoni and his grandmother, Dora, gets under the surface of the recent Italian government policy to remove young children from families connected with organised crime in Naples. What makes the film stand out is its approach, which flips the perspective to tell these people’s stories in their own voices in order to counter the glamorisation and trivialisation of violence in their communities as depicted in recent TV series and films set in the region. Equally transfixing and heart-wrenching, this raw yet poetic, beautifully and painstakingly shot doc puts into stark contrast the freedom and innocence its streetwise young protagonist should be enjoying with the constant threat and brutal reality of his surroundings in a profound and affecting way.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking with Fiore about why she chose to make this film as an antidote to the misrepresentation of the Neapolitan community she saw on screen, and the four-year journey to shooting and making it, including getting to know her subjects, Entoni and Dora, and building a sense of trust. We also discussed how fact and fiction are blurred to push the conventions of the genre, the questions raised (without providing any easy answers) about whether agency over one’s destiny is possible for everyone when the odds are so heavily stacked against some, and her next project, which will be a fictional film.

Sarah Bradbury

Hide and Seek (Nascondino) is released in select cinemas on 20^th January 2023.

Read our review here.

Watch the trailer for Hide and Seek (Nascondino) here: