IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYONE CAN BE BOUGHT COMES A JAW-DROPPING EXPOSÉOFUNIMAGINABLECORRUPTION

THE AMBASSADOR

Prize-Winning Director-Provocateur Mads Brügger’s Acclaimed – and Deeply Disturbing – New Film Comes to Blu-rayTM and DVD on October 23, 2012

“A stunning, funny and vital piece of guerrilla cinema” – Kyle Smith, New York Post

“a nervy documentary guaranteed, depending on who you are, to enlighten, disturb or offend.”
– Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Austin, TX (September 25, 2012) – The lucrative business of becoming a foreign diplomat in a corrupt nation is treated with irreverent insight by filmmaker-journalist Mads Brügger in the disturbing, upsetting, enraging and wholly entertaining THE AMBASSADOR. The real-life story of government corruption will be an eye-opener for home audiences when it arrives on high-definition Blu-rayTM and DVD from Image Entertainment and Drafthouse Films on October 16, 2012, with SRPs, respectively, of $27.97 for DVD and $29.97.

Director-provocateur Brügger shocked audiences with the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner The Red Chapel, in which he infiltrated and exposed the closed, inhuman world of North Korea under the guise of presenting a touring theatrical troupe. Now, in THE AMBASSADOR, he journeys into the gravely dangerous Central African Republic posing as a businessman looking to acquire diplomatic credentials in order to dip into the lucrative blood diamond trade. In this darkly comic, genre-bending documentary, Brügger shows how the resources of a war-torn third world country can almost effortlessly be diverted into the pockets of greedy, unscrupulous foreigners. From each absurdly terrifying and hilarious situation to the next, THE AMBASSADOR is a one-of-a-kind excursion from the man whom The Huffington Post has called “the most provocative filmmaker in the world.”

Financed by daring filmmaker Lars Von Trier’s production company Zentropa (Melancholia, Klown) to expose the violence, greed and corruption of foreign businessman in the Central African Republic, Brügger has developed a new documentary style that he calls “performative journalism,” in which he fashions himself as an absurd caricature of a corrupt diplomat and arms himself with hidden cameras, black-market credentials and razor-sharp wit. It’s part performance art, part investigative journalism, producing shocking revelations and a tragicomic picture of a failed and corrupt state.
Brügger, who witnessed diamond smuggling, bribery and much worse while making THE AMBASSADOR, said, “I want to show an Africa stripped of NGOs [non-governmental organizations], Bono, child soldiers and kids with bloated bellies, to show the kind of people you never see in the documentaries: white businessmen and diplomats, the fat cats in the urban centers, all the people who are in post-colonial Francafrique [French Africa] having a great time. To show this Africa of the affluent I use ‘performative journalism’ – instead of disguising as a fly on the wall observing neutrally, I dress for my part and interact as an agent provocateur. With all the intentions of a journalist to disclose an unnoticed world I went to Central African Republic as a rich white businessman with diplomatic credentials pursuing all the perks that follow this title [reckless diamond hunt, practicing power misuse etc.,] and became a respected member of their society.”

Critics nationwide praised THE AMBASSADOR upon its theatrical release. Said the New York Post’s Kyle Smith: “Picture Graham Greene crossed with James Bond, with a splash of Sacha Baron Cohen, and you’ll start to imagine the nervy talents of Mads Brügger, the fearless Danish filmmaker who has for a second time come up with a stunning, funny and vital piece of guerrilla cinema.” GQ said, “There’s unlikely to be a ballsier film this year!” while The Hollywood Reporter called the movie “shockingly entertaining.”

Special Features on the release will include:
Audio Commentary with Director Mads Brügger
Original Theatrical Trailer
16-Page Booklet