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Set in the blistering heat of the Southern Italian countryside in 1978, I'm Not Scared is a sumptuous coming-of-age tale from the Oscar-winning director of Mediterraneo. Ten-year-old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) is happily whiling away the long, hot months of the summer holidays when he discovers a dark secret at an abandoned farmhouse. It promises to be an adventure, but it turns out to be the event that will catapult him from childhood innocence into a frighteningly adult world from which there's no turning back.

"MICHELE IS AN ENGAGINGLY ADORABLE HERO"

With an enchanting cast of young performers and stunning cinematography capturing the heat haze of Italy's hottest summer on record, I'm Not Scared proves once again how accomplished Italian cinema is at seeing the world through a child's eyes. Like the cute young nippers of The Bicycle Thieves, Cinema Paradiso, or Life Is Beautiful, Michele is an engagingly adorable hero. When he discovers a dark pit hidden underneath a deserted farmhouse, he thinks he's about to find hidden treasure. Instead he meets a terrified young boy called Filippo (Mattia Di Pierro). Is this boy a ghost, or the victim of some criminal abuse?

Answering that question far too quickly to really convince as either a horror movie or a thriller, I'm Not Scared follows Michele as he takes the starving boy hunks of bread each day. Although he doesn't know it, Michele has just stumbled across a vast conspiracy involving his gruff, violent father (Dino Abbrescia) and some dodgy looking characters from the big city.

Capturing the alien strangeness of the adult world, director Gabriele Salvatores delivers a poignant picture of the last days of youth. It may not be the most groundbreaking or original movie, but there's a real sadness lying at its heart. As the children play in the shimmering fields, while combine harvesters loom menacingly on the horizon, one thing is certain - this innocent world won't last forever. Sooner or later the time will come when everybody has to reap what they've sown.

In Italian with English subtitles.