THE people have spoken. “The Vice of Hope” from director Edoardo De Angelis is the winner of the Rome Film Fest’s People’s Choice Award. Audiences voted via app and web for their favorite film of the 13th edition of the festival.

Set in the drug-infested Castel Volturno outside Naples, the film follows Maria (Pina Turco), a trafficker of surrogate mothers whose closest companion is her pitbull. She ferries women from place to place along the river where they give birth and a powerful madam sells their babies to the highest bidder.

When one woman disappears, determined to keep her unborn baby, Maria is tasked with tracking her down. Now carrying her own child, Maria begins to question her role in the illicit trade.

The powerful drama had its world premiere earlier this year in Toronto. It was produced by De Angelis and Pierpaolo Verga of O’Groove with Attilio De Razza of Tramp Limited. De Angelis wrote the script with Umberto Contarello.

“This ground is like a magnet for me,” De Angelis said about shooting in Naples. “Watching a movie, I think an audience wants to find a synthesis of life. Everybody has an underbelly.”

De Angelis previously directed “Indivisible,” a Neapolitan-drama about Siamese twins who long for a regular life. It won six David di Donatello awards, Italy’s top film prize.

In Rome’s Alice nella Citta sidebar, James Gardner’s “Jelly Fish” won the best film award, with star Liv Hill also winning a special jury prize. The special jury prize for best film went to Peter Hedges’ “Ben is Back.”

Thomas Blanchard won the special jury award for best actor for “The Elephant and the Butterfly.” And the jury prize for best first film went to “The Harvesters” by Etienne Kallos.

The 2018 edition of the Rome Film Fest wrapped up Saturday after 266 screenings of 91 films from 30 countries. Attendees this year increased 6 percent over last year’s festival, and the number of audience members who voted for the People’s Choice Award increased by 20 percent.

(SD-Agencies)