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14. May 2014

“Gomorrah” kicks off with big success in Italy

Munich, 14 May 2014. The hard-hitting Italian crime series Gomorrah, which has already provoked an unprecedented international media echo, has kicked off to great success in Italy. The high-intensity crime series, which has its roots in Roberto Saviano's bestseller and Cannes Grand Jury prize-winning feature film of the same name by Matteo Garrone, individually reached over 1.2 million viewers on consolidated replays of the first two episodes. The pilot episode took off with almost 700.000 viewers on Sky Atlantic and Sky Cinema. Gomorrah thus reached twice as many viewers as the renowned Sky original production "Romanzo Criminale." Episode two of the thrilling series was viewed by 675.000 fans. In addition, Gomorrah dominated the Italian social network with several thousand tweets. Episodes three and four earned 610.000 viewers respectively.

Beta Film has already sold Gomorrah in 50 territories, including the US-distributor The Weinstein Company, Sky UK, Sky Germany, Canal +, arte, HBO Nordic and HBO Latin America.

Gomorrah (12xone hour) takes the viewers to the dark and gritty streets of Naples, the inner sanctum of organized crime, the Camorra. When Pietro Savastano (Fortunato Cerlino), one of Naples' biggest and most feared Camorra bosses, is captured and sent to jail, his right-hand man Ciro Di Marzio (Marco D'Amore, "A Quiet Life") sees an opportunity to finally become the new leader. But his time has not yet come; while in jail, Pietro's wife Imma (Maria Pia Calzone) initially takes over, while Pietro's heir apparent, son Genny (Salvatore Esposito) learns the ropes in Honduras. Meanwhile, a rival clan led by Salvatore Conte (Marco Palvetti ) plots to destroy the Savastanos once and for all. The war to control "The System" has just started, in a territory that keeps fighting not to surrender to crime and lawlessness.

The series' concept is based on Roberto Saviano's critically-acclaimed best-selling novel of the same title (10 million copies worldwide); a shocking exposé of the Camorra, for which he conducted years of research and which triggered an unmatched reaction in Italy.

Stefano Sollima, helmer of the critically-acclaimed Sky Italia series "Romanzo Criminale", serves as artistic director and directed six episodes. Award-winning directors Claudio Cupellini ("A Quiet Life") and Francesca Comencini ("The White Space") directed the remaining episodes. The series shot on location over thirty weeks in Naples, Rome, Milan, Ferrara, Ventimiglia and Barcelona.

Gomorrah is a coproduction of Sky Cinema, Cattleya ("Romanzo Criminale", "Siberian Education"), Fandango (feature film "Gomorrah"), La 7 and Beta Film.