Estranei alla Massa

Before he became a director, Marra worked as a sports photographer, a background which shows in this memorable documentary. Profiling a long-established group of Neopolitan football fanatics over a day, as they prepare to travel to northern Italy for a crucial match, Marra's hand-held camera trains on action away from the pitch - banner waving and shooting flares on the stands, as well as events in the fans' lives: the birth of a baby, unremarkable day jobs, aspirations to travel. The rough-cut editing might be a little disorienting at first, but there's a progressive sense of insight, shot through with wit and gritty colour.