Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Jonas Carpignano returns to the world of refugees previously explored in his breakout debut Mediterranea.

Amid the array of characters that make up the large, loving and loud Amato family is the stubborn 14-year-old Pio. Living in an impoverished Romani community in the southwest of Italy, the habitually smoking Pio is the youngest of his siblings and idolizes older brother Cosimo. But when his father and brother are incarcerated, Pio takes it upon himself to continue the family business of petty theft, often working with buddy Ayiva (Mediterranea’s Koudous Seihon) who lives in a nearby African refugee camp. The teen becomes enamored of the high risk, high reward lifestyle, despite warnings from his mother and his own conscience, especially when it jeopardizes his friendship with Ayiva.

Within this intimate docudrama, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Carpignano’s Pio offers an empathetic window into a rarely seen life led by thousands of Europeans.

In competition for the FIPRESCI Prize.