"Videocracy," Erik Gandini's highly-acclaimed film on current Italian politics and media will be released online during a two-week period (Aug. 6-19) as part of the SnagFilms summerfest. Viewers can stream the film for free and embed it on their ownwebsites, blogs, etc. for friends and others to watch during the two-week window.

The film takes aim at the media empire built by Italy's controversial Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. As Manohla Dargis, the New York Times film critic wrote earlier this year, "though Mr. Berlusconi himself — the man, oligarch, tabloid personality and plastic surgery victim — has undeniable entertainment value, Mr. Gandini is more interested in what might be termed the Berlusconi effect. What he’s after is Mr. Berlusconi’s impact on Italian culture, specifically those for whom celebrity is power. Which is why, by accident or design, "Videocracy," ends up holding a mirror to the larger world."

Gandini has said of his film, "You get a picture of a generation which is very very obsessed by brands, by their own appearance, not interested in politics so much, nor in the world... You have a country which is culturally caught in a bubble of values which are what I call a videocracy, where image is everything,"

"Videocracy" was screened at the Venice film festival earlier this year, receiving rave reviews. The movie has been highly controversial in Italy, where Berlusconi remains perhaps the most popular Prime Minister ever. The major TV station in Italy refused to air the trailer for the movie. (Click on the link below to see the trailer.)

For those of us across the Atlantic who grew up in America but who still have deep roots in Italy, "Videocracy" is a movie that needs to be viewed carefully before drawing any universal conclusions.

|CiaoAmerica.net|