Westhampton Beach - As part of its Finest in World Cinema series, the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center will screen director John Turturro's look at the musical roots and traditions of Naples, Italy, "Passione" on Tuesday, August 9, Wednesday, August 10 and Thursday, August 11 at 8 p.m.

When acclaimed actor-director Turturro was invited to make a film about Neapolitan music he was intrigued, as an Italian-American who grew up with many of the swooning ballads that had been popularized. When he revisited the place and met the artists living there carrying on the tradition, he was completely blown away. The city had so much to say, there was nothing to do but sit back and listen. Preconceived ideas evaporated and what was meant to be a straight-ahead documentary transformed into a wild fantasia, an adventure into the vibrations of history.

In the film's 23 songs, you can hear the cultures of many invaders, the Greeks, Arabs, French, Spanish, Normans, and Americans. Eight centuries echo in the aqueducts in "Canto Delle Lavandaie (Washerwomen's Song)." In "Tammuriata Nera," WWII is relived as Al Dexter's twang collides with the primal roar of Peppe Barra. "O Sole Mio" becomes blend of goldenage television performances and the North African vibe, and "Malafemmena" is portrayed for the first time in all its irony, in the context of its very inspiration. The song "Vesuvio" is performed only as it can be by those who live at the foot of the volcano bearing that name.

Each song, whether written in protest or superstition, out of love, jealousy, or poverty, is an emotional postcard about what has changed and what has not. In Naples, life, death, hunger, and brutality are ever present, but a solitary voice on the street can cause an entire intersection to break out into song. "Passione" is Turturro's celebration of that. With the aid of journalist Federico Vaccalabre, cinematographer Marco Pontecorvo, and editor Simona Paggi, along with the resourceful crew of Neapolitans, he has let the film come directly out of the people, the walls that surround them, and the land they inhabit, and invited us all to join in the song.

"Passione" is in Italian English and Arabic, Not Rated, and 90 minutes.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for students/seniors, and $3 for WHBPAC Film Society members. Tickets can be purchased on line at www.whbpac.org, Box Office at 631-288-1500, or 76 Main Street, Westhampton Beach, (Wednesday through Sunday, 12 noon to 6 p.m. and later on show nights).