Drafthouse Films Picks Up Mads Brugger's THE AMBASSADOR
Denmark's Mads Brugger is not your typical documentarian. Where other chronicle, Brugger agitates. Part investigative journalist, part utter madman, Brugger has developed a habit of making movies that could very possibly get him killed. With his debut feature - The Red Chapel - Brugger pretended to be the leader of a theater troupe as a pretense to bring a camera crew into North Korea. And for his second? Well, for The Ambassador he went and bought himself diplomatic credentials to see whether or not he could weasel his way into the illegal trade in African blood diamonds. Says Brugger of the experience:
Check the trailer below.
The end result is a deeply insightful, shocking and frequently very, very funny piece of work. And it's one that will soon be brought to US audiences by Drafthouse Films, who have just announced that they have bought distribution rights.Exactly because I'm beyond role-playing by actually being a diplomat, I can forge a partnership with the very sinister owner of a diamond mine replete with gold tooth and machete scars on his forehead. That would be highly problematic for a journalist. But it's no problem for a diplomat.
A strange, enigmatic and decadent white diplomat arrives in central Africa, looking like a mixture of Henry Stanley and Karl Lagerfeld. He has recently bought an ambassadorship and claims to be a do-good rich business man, who has come to spearhead a diplomatic mission. Officially he is there to start a factory that produces matches - this, to employ locals and teach how to make this simple piece of fire-making equipment. Unofficially he is really there to gain access to vast reserves of diamonds. The Ambassador is a genre-breaking, tragic comedy about the bizarre world of African diplomacy.
Check the trailer below.
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