21/12/2005

Bye Bye Berlusconi! by Jan Henrik Stahlberg (who directed Muxmäuschenstill, a €40,000 fake satirical documentary which sold 300,000 tickets in Germany and was distinguished at the Max Ophüls Prize) will be screened at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival 2006. The shooting —which took place between Genoa and the village of Bonassola with the friendly participation of all the locals— is hardly over and this €90,000 feature written by the director and Lucia Chiarla has already created a buzz. Indeed, a few days ago, for the German premiere of King Kong, jetfilm distribution and the producer Schiwago film organised the unexpected appearance of the actor Maurizio Antonini, who really looks like the Italian Prime Minister, especially when he shows up in a limousine surrounded by bodyguards.

Satirical as it is, Bye Bye Berlusconi nevertheless intends to avoid trials for slander —the team is actually advised by the lawyer Christian Schertz. What was originally supposed to depict the kidnapping of Berlusconi by terrorists who want him to be judged for his deeds is now a fable on the imaginary land of Topolonia (a word derived from the Italian name of Mickey —for that matter, the characters have Disney-sounding names), a country governed by Micky Laus, a businessman who owns a TV channel and is the president of the local football team. The film still deals with kidnapping and trial, but it appears that it is not so easy to bring down such a potent man.

This film also interpreted by Consuelo Barilari (who plays Veronica Lario, Berlusconi's wife) is part of a special trend. This year, the political context in Italy is at the core of several movies: Viva Zapatero, documentary acclaimed in Venice and San Sebastian in which the Italian director Sabina Guzzanti deals with an endangered freedom of expression, Il caimano which Nanni Moretti started shooting in May in Rome and then Milan and which will be released just before the Italian elections, and Shooting Silvio, a project in need of investors in which Berardo Carboni will depict the story of a young writer who is more and more certain that Berlusconi is an evil force and must be assassinated.
Thus, Stahlberg's movie was definitely successful vis-a-vis the distributors, not only in Germany, but also in France (where seven buyers were interested), Hungary, Poland, Austria, and Swizerland. Italy still remains suspiciously absent from this list.

(Translated from French)