SB I Knew Him Well Press Book Eng 2
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MARIANNA DE LISO, SIMONE GATTONI, ENRICA GONELLA Present S.B. I KNEW HIM WELL S.B. IO LO CONOSCEVO BENE A documentary by GIACOMO DURZI & GIOVANNI FASANELLA press screening: Tuesday November 13th l h. 07:30 p.m. l sala Studio 3 Auditorium official screening: Wednesday November 14 th l h. 04:30 p.m. l Sala Petrassi additional screening: Thursday November 15 th l h. 04:00 p.m. l Sala Cinema 2 S.B. Io lo conoscevo bene ● S.B. I Knew Him Well ● Technical Sheet Written and Directed by Giacomo Durzi & Giovanni Fasanella Supervising Editor Paola Freddi Editor Tommaso Valente and Francesco De Matteis Photography Beppe Gallo Annimation Giacomo Nanni Original Music Valerio Vigliar Sound Valeria Cocuzza Produced by Marianna De Liso, Simone Gattoni, Enrica Gonella Production Kinesis Film In partnership with The Lazio Region Nationality Italia Year of production 2012 Duration 74’ Format HD Sound Stereo International Sales INTRAMOVIES Via Manfredi 15 – 00197 Rome – Italy tel. +39.06.8077252 – fax. 06.8076156 [email protected] Press Office STORYFINDERS Lionella Bianca Fiorillo +39.340.7364203 Alessandra Izzo +39.335.6882776 Via A. Allegri da Correggio 11 - 00196 Rome - ITALY +39.06.88972779 +39.340.7364203 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/S.B.ioloconoscevobene credits not contractual S.B. Io lo conoscevo bene ● S.B. I Knew Him Well ● Synopsis Silvio Berlusconi rose from cruise ship entertainer to become a successful entrepreneur, and then Prime Minister of Italy. Suddenly, when he was just a hair's breadth away from attaining the highest and most sought- after office in Italy, the Quirinale, his ascent came to an abrupt halt. “SB I Knew Him Well” is a documentary that explores the secrets, the high points and dark shadows of his story. It paints an intimate portrait of the man who made his mark on Italian political history. Our narrative follows personal interviews, enhanced and accompanied by archive material that provides a historical context for the personal choices, actions and ventures of a man who attained so much, but who at the same time provoked extensive criticism and was the recipient of serious accusations. Vittorio Dotti, Berlusconi's personal lawyer and close friend; Paolo Pillitteri, journalist, politician, former mayor of Milan and who was also very close to Bettino Craxi; as well as Giuliano Ferrara and Paolo Guzzanti, who both, following years of socialism and communism, became Berlusconi supporters are just some of the personalities who knew him closely, and whom we interviewed. Armed with their voices, we outline the rise and fall of this highly controversial figure. S.B. Io lo conoscevo bene ● S.B. I Knew Him Well ● Interviewees VITTORIO DOTTI Born in 1940, Milan. Civil Lawyer. He knew Berlusconi towards the end of the 1970s and began working with him professionally as his legal representative for the Fininvest group. His political activities began with Berlusconi's entry on to the political stage. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for Forza Italia in 1994 and became the president of Forza Italia MPs and Vice President of the House and the party leader within the House. He was a moderate within the party, and along with Della Valle and Urbani they were known as the “white doves”. His association with Berlusconi came to an abrupt end in 1996 when his wife, Stefania Ariosto, made accusations against Berlusconi and Previti in several judicial inquests. PAOLO PILLITTERI Born in 1940. Milan. Craxi's friend and brother-in- law, he was the leader of the Socialist Party (PSI) during its golden years. He witnessed the growth of Silvio Berlusconi's business consortium, known as “Milan to drink”. In 1996, he became mayor of Milan and in 1992 he was re-elected with the Socialist Party getting 20% of the vote. In May of the same year he was investigated by the “Clean Hands” inquest and convicted of receiving stolen goods, thus ending his political career. ARMANDO CICERO A executive whose experience in leadership includes publishing houses and advertising agencies. From 1982 – 1990, along with with Marcello Dell'Utri, he was the co-general director of Publitalia '80, a concessionary company founded in 1979 by Silvio Berlusconi to tap into the advertising revenues available for the newly created commercial television channel, Canale 5. S.B. I Knew Him Well Interviewees DAVIDE RAMPELLO Director of Italy's most important television programmes at the end of the 1970s, initially working for RAI and then for Fininvest. During the initial years with Fininvest he took on the role of artistic director for Canale 5, putting on air many of the that epoch’s most notable programmes. Furthermore, he was the director of Grandi Eventi, a company responsible for communication, research and development for the Fininvest Group. GABRIELLA CARLUCCI Together with Enzo Tortora, she began her career as a show-girl in 1983 on Portobello, over the years she alternated between working on programmes for Rai and Mediaset. In 1994, responding to a call from Silvio Berlusconi, she signed up to Forza Italia and became responsible for the Department of Culture and Performing Arts, for the Lazio Region. At the end of the 2001 election she was elected to Parliament and then became Mayor of Margherita di Savoia. In 2011, following controversy she left PDL and joined UDC. GIULIANO FERRARA An ex Italian politician, today he is a newspaper report and television journalist. In 1983 he left the Italian Communist Party. He was the presenter on various Rai programmes, but then transferred to Fininvest. During the European elections of 1989 he became an MEP for the Socialist Party. As Silvio Berlusconi and Forza Italia grew, Ferrara became the Minister for Parliamentary Relations for Berlusconi’s first government. In January 1996, he set up the newspaper Il Foglio (published by the Omonima Editorial Cooperative, a cooperative that includes, Berlusconi’s second wife, Veronica Lario) where he still works today as Director S.B. I Knew Him Well Interviewees PAOLO CIRINO POMICINO As a prominent exponent of the old Christian Democrats, he has been a member Member of Parliament since 1976. Notably, in addition to being the highly powerful chair of the Parliament's Budget Committee, he was the Minister for Public Administration and Finances from 1988 to 1992. Paolo Pomicino is the perfect embodiment of a politician who never leaves the political stage. He was sentenced to twenty months imprisonment for illegal financing (the Enimont affair) and plea bargained a two month sentence for the illicit funding of Eni. In 2011, he was one of the architects of the strategy leading to the fall of Silvio Berlusconi’s government. LUIGI MANFREDI Retired general of the Alpine Armed Corps. A graduate in strategic science, he studied at the Military Academy of Modena and attended war school in Italy and Germany. He was the military attaché to the Italian ambassador in Bonn during the Cold War. He was elected senator for Forza Italia in 1996 and was also responsible for the Department for Civil Protection. TIZIANA PARENTI After initially being part of the Young Communist Party in Pisa, she entered the judiciary. She first served as a judge in the Court of Assisi and then as Prosecutor for Milan. “Titti la Rossa” [Titti the Red] – as she was nick-named by some journalists – held the role of Prosecutor during the inquest into the “red bribes affair”, and was the deputy prosecutor, from the pool of Milan judges for the “Clean Hands” inquest. After leaving the judiciary, she entered the legal profession. She resigned from the pool of judges and joined Forza Italia, through whose list she became elected to Parliament in March 1994. S.B. I Knew Him Well Interviewees PAOLO GUZZANTI Journalist and Italian politician, he was elected to the XVI Parliament and was deputy of the Popolo delle Libertà party. Previously he had been a senator and part of the Italian Socialists, the Patto Segni party and Forza Italia. In 2009 he left the Popolo della Libertà party and joined the opposition and then the Italian Liberal Party, from which he later left for the Polo della Nazione party. In 2011 he announced his return to Government with his entry into the Responsible Initiative Parliament Group as an “independent liberal”. ALESSANDRO MELUZZI Meluzzi is a psychiatrist, politician and Italian television personality. When he was young he was a member of the Federation of Young Italian Communists, he followed the radicals, and later became a socialist. He is a Mason and for a long time was a follower of the controversial ex-priest Don Gelmini. In 1994 he was elected to Parliament with Forza Italia, defeating Sergio Chiamparino. In 1996 he was elected as a Senator of the Republic. In 1998 he left Forza Italia to join the Democratic Union for the Republic (UDR). When the party dissolved he joined the UDEUR, under D'Alema first Government. He then passed to the Greens during D'Alema's second vote of confidence. BENEDETTO DELLA VEDOVA President of the Radical Italians party (2001- 2003) and leader of the Liberal Reformers movement (2005-2009), he is currently part of the cultural-political association “Libertiamo” and deputy of the Popolo delle Libertà party. He is a member of the Gianfranco Fini's group “Future and Liberty”, created by a split in the PDL. Credits not contractual S.B. Io lo conoscevo bene ● S.B. I Knew Him Well ● Directors Note How, in a free country like Italy, could an Italian television tycoon become a political figure and the head of a Government so powerful that it could clock-up nearly twenty years of our country's history? Is it just down his media power? The whole world talked about him, this anomaly in the panorama of western democracy, and they still talk today.