Coming-of-age drama played out as a menacing suspense thriller, based on the award-winning novel by Niccoló Ammaniti (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and directed by Gabriele Salvatores ('Mediterraneo'). Set in the desolate beauty of the southern Italian countryside in the late 1970s, the story is told through the eyes of ten-year-old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano). While out roaming aimlessly across the fields and hills around his village with his schoolfriends in the summer holidays, Michele stumbles upon an unspeakable crime - the discovery of which changes his life, and his relationships with those he loves, irrevocably. The film was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival.