Where it was filmed 'Mixed by Erry'

“DJs can be born in Forcella too”. The story of the Frattasio brothers, brought to the big screen by director Sydney Sibilia from Salerno, demonstrates how difficult it can be to have dreams that seem incompatible with one’s birthplaces. This is the starting point for Enrico “Erry” Frattasio’s incredible transformation from DJ in Forcella, a working-class area in central Naples, to producer of pirate mixtapes which he uses to create an empire. His business in the 1980s and 90s was such a success that the original fakes, as he called them, needed to be distinguished from the many imitations with the sentence: Warning: cassettes with photocopies are not original Erry.

Sibilia tells the rise and fall of the illegal industry set up by Erry, in the places where Enrico Frattasio (Luigi D’Oriano) and his brothers Peppe and Angelo (Giuseppe Arena, Emanuele Palumbo) lived.

The film also covers the main events that took place during an extraordinary decade for the city that culminated with the legendary cup won by Maradona. “Naples is a very photogenic city. It poses for you.” notes Sibilia. The city recreated its appearance at that time, with big scenes – such as the neighbourhood boss’ arrest, cheered by local residents and celebrations for the football cup – often coinciding with key turning points in the story. A colourful, over the top city, shown in the tiniest detail, from cars to phones to fashion: “this story could only have taken place there, in that place, at that time in history, and in that language”.

Naples’ locations include piazza Mercato, piazza del Carmine, the Church of San Lorenzo, vico Cappella a Pontenuovo, via San Giovanni a Carbonara, vico dei Panettieri, the cathedral surroundings and also the Chiaia shoreline in via Caracciolo, from piazza Vittoria to the Diaz roundabout.

His illegal business would open the doors to prison for Frattasio in 1997: the main characters arrive at the former prison in piazza Partigiani in Perugia. Only days earlier, the brothers had been seated in the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo, for the “Festival della canzone italiana”, unaware that their illegal trade was running out of time.