What happens when a very white European man buys a diplomatic title which turns him into an African diplomat overnight – right in the middle of one of Central Africa’s most failed nations? »The Ambassador »is a genre-breaking and tragic comedy about the bizarre and hidden world of African diplomacy, where gin and tonics flow on a daily basis and diamond hustlers and corrupt politicians run free.


« This conversation we’re about to have never happened, » says a dealer of diplomatic passports in the opening sequence of The Ambassador. It is a statement that sets the tone for a substantial part of this secretly shot film, and also proves the value of the method. The Ambassador reveals the dark side of Africa, an underworld that cannot be recorded in any other way. Mads Brügger is a Danish journalist and master satirist who won the 2010 Sundance World Cinema Documentary Award for The Red Chapel, in which he manages to get a Danish-Korean acting duo into North Korea for a performance. This time, dressed as a neo-colonialist, he sets off for the Central African Republic to impersonate the Liberian consul. He sets up a match factory run by pygmies as a cover for his ambitions in diamond trafficking. But Brügger is really there to show how the power in the country is allotted and traded. This mission is most definitely not without its dangers, as borne out by the murder of the chief of the security service, a former foreign legionnaire, some time after the two meet.

Director: Mads Brügger
Photography: Johan Stahl Winthereik
Editing: Leif Axel Kjeldsen, Carsten Søsted, Kimmo Taavila
Production: Carsten Holst for Zentropa Real, Peter Engel for Zentropa Real

Involved TV
Channel TV 2
DR
SVT
YLE

Danish title: Ambassadøren
English title: The Ambassador
Danish release: 01.03.2012
Country of origin: Denmark
Running length: 93 min
Technical data: HD-Cam PAL / 16:9 / colour / stereo
Language: Danish, English, French, Sango

Director: Mads Brügger
Screenplay: Maja Jul Larsen, Mads Brügger
Director of photography: Johan Stahl Winthereik
Editor: Carsten Søsted, Kimmo Taavila, Leif Axel Kjeldsen
Sound: Hans Christian Kock, Andreas Kongsgaard Mogensen
Composer: Tin Soheili, Niklas Schak
Appearances: Mads Brügger, Eva Jakobsen
Producer: Peter Engel, Carsten Holst
Executive producer: Peter Aalbæk Jensen, Peter Garde
Production: Zentropa Real ApS

Finance
(DK) New Danish Screen; (DK) Zentropa Real; (SE) Film i Väst; (SE) Zentropa International Sweden; (SE) SVT; (FI) YLE

International sales
TrustNordisk / Filmbyen 26 / DK-2650 Hvidovre / t +45 3686 8788 / f +45 3677 4448 / [email protected] / www.trustnordisk.com

With support from
New Danish Screen, Undervisningsministeriets tips/lotto midler, Finnish Film Foundation, AVEK, MEDIA Programme (EU)
Category Documentary

Source:
www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/IDFA2011.aspx?id=9C737F98-6597-44A9-88F3-42B8EFC42C50
www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/danishfilms/dffilm.aspx?id=22431


________________

DANISH
En besynderlig, enigmatisk og dekadent hvid europæer med en nyerhvervet ambassadørtitel ankommer til Den Centralafrikanske Republik for at lede en diplomatisk mission, der skal repræsentere Liberia. Officielt er han der som en godgørende rig forretningsmand, der skal opstarte en tændstikfabrik – dette, for at ansatte de lokale og undervise dem i, hvordan man laver dette simple stykke fyrtøj. Uofficielt er han der i virkeligheden for at opnå adgang til Den Centralafrikanske Republiks enorme reserve af diamanter. « Ambassadøren » er en genre-brydende, tragisk komedie om den bizarre og skjulte verden af afrikansk diplomati, hvor gin-tonic flyder på daglig basis og diamant krejlere og korrupte politikere går fri.


Instruktør: Mads Brügger

Originaltitel: Ambassadøren

Udgivelsesår: 2011

Produktionsland: DK

Varighed: 93 min.

Kategori: DK/Dokumentarfilm

Oprindelsesland: Danmark

Emneord: Afrika, Diplomater, Diplomattitler, Diamanter, Diamanthandel, Centralafrikanske Republik, Den


Udenlandsk titel: The Ambassador
Produktionsselskab: Zentropa Entertainments
Produced by Zentropa Real ApS.
Co-producers: Cine Works by Petri Rossi, Potemkino by Peter De Maegd, Film i Väst by Tomas Eskilsson & Katarina Krave, Zentropa International Sweden by Madeleine Ekman.
In association with: New Danish Screen by Artistic Director Jakob Høgel, YLE co-productions by Iikka Vehkalahti, SVT by Axel Arnö.
With support from: The Danish Ministry of Education’s Pools and Lottery Funds, NFTF by Hanne Palmquist & Karolina Lidin, Finnish Film Foundation by Miia Haavisto, AVEK by Timo Korhonen.
With the support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

Distribution: DOX:BIO
Biografpremiere: 05.10.2011 / Albertslund Biograferne, Reprise Teatret, Grand, Ishøj Bio, Værløse Bio, Baltoppen Bio 1-2, Park Bio, Glostrup Bio, Bio Viften (Rødovre), Empire, Kinopalæet (Lyngby)
samt 29 biografer i provinsen, inkl. Grønland

Instruktør
Mads Brügger / Instruktør

Manus
Mads Brügger / Ide
Maja Jul Larsen / Manuskript
Mads Brügger / Manuskript

Produktion
Peter Engel / Producer
Carsten Holst / Producer
Petri Rossi / Co-producer
Peter De Maegd / Co-producer
Tomas Eskilsson / Co-producer
Katarina Krave / Co-producer
Madeleine Ekman / Co-producer
Eva Jakobsen / Produktionsleder
Julie Elmquist E. Neergaard / Assisterende producer
Charlotte Vinther / Line producer
Peter Aalbæk Jensen / Executive producer
Peter Garde / Executive producer
Jonas Bagger / Associate producer
Karen Kristensen / Produktionsassistent
Tobias Fønsskov Dahl / Produktionsassistent
Ask Kroager Lund / Produktionsassistent
Sarah Amalie Næsby / Produktionsassistent
Simon Jacobsen / Produktionsassistent
Héloïse Lalanne Castellano / Produktionsassistent
Jesper Jarl Pedersen / Producerassistent (præproduktion)
Joanna Zofia Bard Mikolajczyk / Producerassistent (præproduktion)
Anna Tolnov / Producerassistent (præproduktion)
Stine Lauritz Larsen / Producerassistent (præproduktion)
Marie Gade / Producerassistent (præproduktion)
Cecilie Rui / Postproduktionskoordinator
Rune Søndergaard / Postproduktionsassistent

Fotograf
Johan Stahl Winthereik / Fotograf
Eva Jakobsen / B-fotograf
Maja Jul Larsen / B-fotograf
Sine Vadstrup Brooker / B-fotograf

Stills
Johan Stahl Winthereik / Stills

Klip
Carsten Søsted / Klip
Kimmo Taavila / Klip
Leif Axel Kjeldsen / Klip
Dan Loghin / Klippeassistent
Mikael Reidar / Online-klipper
Emil Eriksson / Online assistent
Olesya Kireeva / Klippeassistent
Lárus Ren Gudbjörnsson / Klippeassistent

Musik
Tin Soheili / Musik
Niklas Schak / Musik
Mikkel Maltha / Musikkoordinator

Produktionsdesign
Pernille Schellerup / Chefrekvisitør
Vibe Harsløf / Juveler

Lyd
Johan Stahl Winthereik / Lydoptagelser
Hans Christian Kock / Lyddesigner
Andreas Kongsgaard Mogensen / Lyddesigner
Hans Christian Kock / Lydmix
Andreas Kongsgaard Mogensen / Lydmix
Lea Korsgaard / Lydklipper

Visual-effect
Simon Lytting / Digital colorgrading
Lars « Lalo » Nielsen / VFX-designer
Simon Lytting / VFX-designer
Lars Dela / Teknisk backup
Kasper Söderlund / Grafik

Source:
www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/nationalfilmografien/nffilm.aspx?id=73642