Viva Zapatero!

November 2003: the first episode of Sabina Guzzanti's satirical programme raiot is broadcast in Italy to record-breaking audience figures. Political and media figures are impersonated, pilloried and mercilessly lampooned. Targets including the then-President of RAI Television and, of course, Silvio Berlusconi. November 2003: Berlusconi-owned Mediaset sues the makers of raiot for defamation and demands 20 million euros in compensation. RAI Television pulls the programme, despite Mediaset's legal action being thrown out. raiot refuses to die, but goes live from an auditorium in Rome. The cast is swelled by a host of major Italian talent. The performance is broadcast on satellite. Numerous websites host live transmissions. 15,000 desperate spectators queue outside the sold-out auditorium. A phenomenon. The undisputed unofficial hit of this year's Venice Film Festival, Viva Zapatero! strikes a searing, hilarious and utterly vital blow against the forces of censorship and the suppression of free speech, not only in Italy, but world-wide. (Wild Bunch Distribution)