Stabat Mater, directed by Nazareno Manuel Nicoletti, will be the highlight of the opening night of the new Pompeii International Film Festival, taking place at MaxiMall Pompeii from 3 to 8 June. On Tuesday 3 June at 6:00 pm the film will be screened out of competition in Screen 7 of the Nexus Cinema; the director and full cast are expected to attend and will be introduced on stage after the afternoon red carpet. This Campania premiere officially opens the showcase, directed by Enrico Vanzina and chaired by Annarita Borelli. Following the opening ceremony—scheduled for 5:00 pm—Stabat Mater will close the festival’s first day.
With this debut in narrative feature filmmaking, Nicoletti—already known for his hard-hitting social documentaries—turns to an intimate story that intertwines the theme of denied motherhood with a poignant portrait of southern provincial life. As the production notes state, he adopts ‘a realistic gaze shot through with poetry’, an approach borne out by the film’s raw, naturalistic cinematography. The story follows Clara, who became a mother at twenty and has been struggling ever since with a role she feels alien to. Between exhausting night-club shifts and the drastic decision to abandon her daughter and partner, she is called back to her responsibilities ten years later, when little Amanda falls ill.
“Stabat Mater was shot with an ARRI ALEXA Mini paired with Cooke anamorphic lenses. Many of the scenes were filmed handheld, as we wanted to stay close to the characters. The actors move freely within the spaces, weaving together interlaced long takes. Camera movements set the rhythm and search for moments of deep intimacy. Light and colour differ significantly between day and night, framing the protagonist’s gradual decline and illustrating her inner conflict as she confronts both motherhood and the daily life she is trying to escape. During the daytime scenes, I tried to follow the realism of the locations, allowing the atmosphere to be shaped by natural light. At night, colours come to life and become more saturated, shifting towards a pop aesthetic. In the night scenes, deep blacks enhance the graphic quality of the image, which takes precedence over a descriptive view of space—as if to suggest the protagonist’s point of view and step inside her thoughts.”
