I call it the panda of the west. There’s something profound about Danish director Mads Brügger‘s documentaries due to his entering dangerous countries under false pretext to capture a result. Whether it’s heading to North Korea as a vaudeville act or the Central African Republic as a Liberian ambassador attempting to infiltrate the illegal blood diamond trade, he creates politically motivated art with an intellectually subversive edge that proves as entertaining as it is enlightening. He’s an edgy, thinking man’s Sacha Baron Cohen in that regard, building characters to go…
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INTERVIEW: Mads Brügger, director/star of The Ambassador
Called the most provocative filmmaker in the world by many, Danish documentarian Mads Brügger has outdone himself with his newest work, The Ambassador. Traversing the corrupt politics of Africa, the journalist finds himself becoming a ‘colonial dandy’ to discover just how easy it is to acquire blood diamonds and befriend the highest of government officials. Speaking with us as part of his press tour through Drafthouse Films, Mads helps explain the dire situation in the landlocked Central African Republic as well as his process transforming into a bona fide diplomat.…
Read MoreREVIEW: The Ambassador [2011]
“If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu” Did you ever wonder what a guy like Sacha Baron Cohen could accomplish if his satirical bent towards political upheaval had more than cheap laughs as its goal? What if Borat became a literal representative of Kazakhstan or Brüno a luminary in the fashion world interviewed for expert insight as a real person and not just a fictitious persona tossed aside when public saturation reaches uncontrollable heights? He would need to be a committed journalist with the stomach to both…
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