Article Previews Doc Fest: Videocracy November 4, 2009

Italy, 2009. Silvio Berlusconi not only controls the country’s politics but almost all of the Italian media, directly or indirectly. Besides holding stakes in many publishing houses, Berlusconi’s family also runs the country’s biggest commercial TV group, Mediaset, whose stations are notoriously famous not for quality programmes but for shallow entertainment.

Director Erik Gandini lives in Sweden but grew up in Italy. He returns to his home country to take a critical look behind the scenes of Italy’s media world and assess its influence on both politics and media. Gandini tries to show how Berlusconi’s media attempts to create an uncritical audience whose only wish is to become famous and join the Premier’s friends’ glamour world. He follows a mechanic from the countryside whose biggest dream it is to become a TV star and who therefore goes to the gym, learns karate, practices singing and keeps going to auditions – in vain. 15 Year old school girls dream of becoming the weather girl on one of the channels – for two weeks in their life – and therefore accept humiliation in TV shows where they have to fight for the “job”. Videocracy is a stunning and exciting documentary about the connections between politics, media and society. It leaves a sour taste and paints a sinister picture of telly-republic Italy.

Director: Erik Gandini

Country: Sweden, Denmark

Premiere:

Dates: 06 November, 19:20 Showroom 3. 07 November 9:30 Showroom 3

Watch for: Fascist youtube videos, greasy men, scantily clad Italian women.