"I am, and not only in my own opinion, the best prime minister who could be found today," he told a press conference. "I believe there is no one in history to whom I should feel inferior. Quite the opposite."

The problem, he explained, was that "In absolute terms, I am the most legally persecuted man of all times, in the whole history of mankind, worldwide, because I have been subjected to more than 2,500 court hearings and I have the good luck – having worked well in the past and having accumulated an important wealth – to have been able to spend more than €200m in consultants and judges ... I mean in consultants and lawyers."

SOURCE

Within less than 24 hours of yesterday's judgment, the prime minister had insulted the constitutional court, questioned the impartiality of the president and his predecessors, and held a female MP up to ridicule on live television.

SOURCE

"Videocracy"

Videocracy - In a videocracy the key to power is the image.

In Italy one man only has kept the domination of the image over three entire decades. As a TV-magnate and then as Presidente, Silvio Berlusconi has created a perfect system of TV-entertainment and politics.

Like no one else he has influenced the content of commercial television in Italy. His TV-channels, known for their over-exposure of almost naked girls, are seen by many as a mirror of his own taste and personality.

Director Erik Gandini lives in Sweden but was born and brought up in Italy.

In Videocracy he returns to his country of birth portraying from the inside the consequences of a TV-experiment that Italians have been subjected to for 30 years. He gets a unique access to the most powerful spheres, even in the President’s summer resort in Sardinia. Unveiling a remarkable story, born out of the scary reality of TV-republic Italy, a country where the step from TV-showgirl to Minister for Gender Equality is only natural.


In the autumn Videocracy will screen at a great number of international film festivals:

Nordic Panorama, Reykjavik
Hamptons film festival, New York
Stranger than Fiction, New York
Chicago film festival
IDFA, Amsterdam
Sheffield doc fest
Seville Film Festival

Further festivals to be announced.

Venice goes crazy for 'Videocracy'

VENICE -- The Lido was abuzz Thursday about "Videocracy," a doc that takes a critical look at Italian media tycoon-turned-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, and the powerful influence television has over Italian culture.

The film, which had its Italian premiere Thursday at the Venice Film Festival and also will play at Toronto, screened in two packed theaters. It temporarily overshadowed the high-wattage fest, which got under way a day earlier.

The Italian- and Swedish-made film, whose trailer was banned by both Berlusconi's Mediaset and by state broadcaster RAI, was talked about in the Italian press for days before its premiere. It was a rare case of a film screening in two Venice sidebars at once: Venice Days and Critics' Week.

Director Erik Gandini, an Italian who lives in Sweden, where "Videocracy" had its world premiere last month, said it was the kind of story that had to be told on the big screen.

"It is about the power of images on the screen, and it had to be told using a similar medium," he told the crowd in an impromptu Q&A session after the first screening Thursday.

'Videocracy' ads can't air on Italy state TV

MILAN — Italy's state broadcaster RAI has refused to air ads promoting "Videocracy," a Swedish documentary examining the influence of television on Italian culture over the last 30 years, because it says the spots are an offense to Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Both of the 30-second promotional spots show a smiling Berlusconi, the 72-year-old media magnate and three-time premier. One opens with a montage of scantily clad women who have appeared on TV over the years; the other features statistics proclaiming Italy's low standing in rankings of equal opportunity and press freedom and notes that TV is the primary source of information for 80 percent of Italians.

RAI's rejection letter, obtained by The Associated Press, called the spots "offensive to the honor and personal reputation of the prime minister," noting that the photos of the unclothed women were suggestive of the recent scandals over Berlusconi's personal life.

Italian-Swedish filmmaker Eric Gandini rejected the contention that film was anti-Berlusconi and that the film in no way discusses the scandals, which was finished the month before they broke.

Disclosures that Berlusconi had attended the 18th birthday party of a model in Naples in April led his wife to publicly announce she was divorcing him. Since then he has been linked to other women, including a prostitute. Berlusconi has denied having improper relations with the model, or any other woman.

"It is a film about the present time. It is a film that talks about how Italy has become after all these years. Of course, Berlusconi is in the story. But it is much more a film about Italian culture"

Read more at: www.huffingtonpost.com...

Originally posted by Chevalerous
reply to post by jaamaan

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Everyone who seeks understanding about the fascist; Silvio Berlusconi and the how he came to power - should see Eric Gandini's new film documentary:

Videocracy

This film have made the Italian Elite so damn scared that they tried to get it banned and censor it from being shown to the Italian & European public - but the ban failed.