Black Souls

The rich story of a criminal family from the southern region of Calabria plays out like a contemporary Western, where the call to blood law and an emphasis on revenge are commonplace and acceptable notions of justice.

"I made this film in a town that legal professionals and journalists stigmatise as one of the nerve centres of the Calabrian 'ndrangheta: Africo... When I said I wanted to make the film there, everyone tried to discourage me: it's too difficult, it's inaccessible, it's too dangerous... I arrived in Calabria full of prejudice and fear. I discovered a very complex and diverse reality. I saw mistrust turn into curiosity, and people opened their doors to us. I mixed my actors with the residents of Africo, who acted and worked with the cast. Without them, this film would have been poorer. Africo has a very tough history of criminality but it can help us understand many things about our country."
Francesco Munzi