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DICKTATORSHIP – MACHO MADE IN ITALY
by Gustav Hofer & Luca Ragazzi
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SYNOPSIS
“To have a penis is to be chained to a madman” wrote Sophocles, more than 2500 years ago. He was right then and still right today. But it is in Italy, probably more than in any other European country, that the madman’s power is most visible. Everything in the Belpaese seems to revolve around the dick. Just think. It has 887 nicknames and the country’s curious mix of dictators and Latin Lovers – from Casanova to Mussolini and Berlusconi – were most definitely driven by theirs. Fed up with this phallocentric system, Gustav and Luca, directors of award-winning doc “Italy: Love it or Leave It”, decide to find out why Italy is still so obsessed with its “gigi” and go on a kaleidoscopic and ironic journey – from science to pop culture – into the everlasting charm of penis, power and politics.
DETAILS
87 mins
2019
Italy
Italian
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TRAILER
CREDITS
Directors: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi
Production: Marco Visalberghi for DocLab
Co-production: ZDF/Arte
In association with Arti Film, YLE
Director of Photography: Francesco Principini
Editor: Giulia Amati
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BIOGRAPHY
DIRECTOR - GUSTAV HOFER
Gustav Hofer is an Italian film director, screenwriter, journalist and TV host. He graduated in "Communication sciences" in Vienna and then in "Cinema" in London. Later he moved to Rome where in 1999, he built a relationship with Luca Ragazzi. In 2001, Gustav started working for the TV channel Arte where in 2005 he started to host the show "Journal de la Culture - Arte Kultur".
He started his work as film director in 2004, directing the TV documentary "Il Sangue dell'Impero" (Blood of the Empire) together with Pietro Suber. Four years later, in 2008, Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi directed the autobiographical documentary "Improvvisamente L'Inverno Scorso" (Suddenly, Last Winter), dealing with the difficulties of being a gay couple in Italy. The movie was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008, where it won the jury prize Manfred Salzgeber. In 2009 it also won the Nastro d'argento (silver ribbon) for best documentary.
Together with Luca Ragazzi, in 2011, he also directed the documentary "Italy: Love it, or Leave it", a road-movie style examination of Berlusconi's Italy. It won the Audience Award and Best Feature Film at the Milan Film Festival in 2011.
DIRECTOR - LUCA RAGAZZI
Luca Ragazzi is an Italian film director, screenwriter, journalist and actor. After studying Letters and Philosophy at Sapienza University in Rome, in 1996 Luca Ragazzi became a journalist and a film critic. In 1999, he entered a relationship with and started collaborating with Gustav Hofer as director and screenwriter. In 2000, Italian director Claudio Bonivento, gave him a small role in the movie Le Giraffe, with Sabrina Ferilli and Veronica Pivetti. In 2008, Ragazzi and Hofer directed the autobiographical documentary Suddenly Last Winter (Improvvisamente l'inverno scorso), dealing with the difficulties of being a gay couple in Italy.[1] The movie was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008, where it was awarded the jury prize Manfred Salzgeber. In 2009 it won the Nastro d'argento (silver ribbon) as best documentary. Ragazzi and Hofer directed the 2011 documentary Italy: Love it, or Leave it. The couple's most recent directing collaboration, What Is Left?, was released in 2013.
SELECT FESTIVALS
HOT DOCS 2019〡PINK SCREENS 2019〡NUREMBERG INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL 2019〡BIOGRAFILM 2019〡TROMSØ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2020
PRESS
"Entertaining... Worth a watch ahead of your next family dinner with sexist and inflammatory relatives."
- Kevin Ritchie, NOW
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