''Viva Zapatero!'' is a 2005 documentary by
Sabina Guzzanti telling her side of the story regarding the conflict with
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...
over a late-night TV political satire show broadcast on Rai 3.
The show, ''RAIot'' (a play on the name of the Italian state public TV: ''
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
'', and the English word ''
riot''), lampooned prime minister Berlusconi. Since it wasn't considered a satirical show, but a political one, it was cancelled after the first episode.
Origin
''Viva Zapatero!'' is titled after the famous "
Viva Zapata!
''Viva Zapata!'' is a 1952 American Western film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando. The screenplay was written by John Steinbeck, using Edgcomb Pinchon's 1941 book ''Zapata the Unconquerable'' as a guide. The cast includes Jean ...
" and it also refers to the then Spanish Prime minister,
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who, immediately after gaining power in Spain in April 2004, ensured that the head of the state-run public broadcaster would no longer be a political appointee
(as opposed to Italy).
Story
The TV broadcasting of the satirical program RAIot was censored in November 2003 after the comedian, Sabina Guzzanti, made outspoken criticism of the Berlusconi media empire.
Mediaset, one of
Berlusconi's companies, sued the Italian state broadcasting company RAI because of the Guzzanti show asking for 20 million Euro for "damages" and from November 2003 she was forced to appear only in theatres around Italy.
In August 2005, it was the sleeper hit of the
Venice International Film Festival, receiving a 15-minute
standing ovation
A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. In Ancient Rome returning military commanders (such as Marcus Licinius Crassus a ...
after its premiere screening. When it opened in Italian theaters, over 200,000 people went to see it in the first week. Its success resulted in an invitation to the 2006
Sundance Film Festival.
Awards
Official Selection –
Sundance Film Festival 2006
Official Selection –
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
2006
See also
*
Censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
*''
Fahrenheit 9/11''
*
Freedom of the press
*
Freedom of speech
*
Satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
References
External links
Official site*
'Viva Zapatero' and Italian Censorship A film about free speech and the state of the Italian mediaFilmmakers bugged about Berlusconi
* ttp://european-films.net/content/view/159/61/ european-films.net reviewwritten by Boyd van Hoeij
Movie Night: Viva ZapateroViva Zapatero! (2005)
Italian documentary films
Documentary films about politics
Works about Silvio Berlusconi
Italian independent films
Italian political satire films
Works about censorship
Censorship of broadcasting
2005 films
2005 documentary films
Mediaset
Films directed by Sabina Guzzanti
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