Capitalism and Orientalism: Gomorrah at Cannes

• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam University Press 2023
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5117/9789463720366_ch06; https://scienceopen.com/book?vid=e8988deb-e99c-4fdb-b115-5880de8a6144

Through the case study of Gomorrah ’s (Matteo Garrone, 2008) presentation at Cannes, this chapter re-assesses film festivals’ claims to both artistic and political universality through the lenses of capitalism and Orientalism. I argue that European A festivals disavow their reproduction of oppressive power structures by displacing the excesses of global capitalism onto a fantasmatic, orientalised South. I investigate the dynamics of transnationalism and “uneven development” in competitive film festivals’ programming of films produced and/or set “outside” the North Atlantic. I show that, while Cannes’ presentation of Gomorrah effectively localises its critique to Southern Italy, the film itself makes manifest the imbrication of the Global North—and even European film festivals—in the ecological and commercial corruption it depicts.