Mipcom 2023: Mediawan Rights to distribute "The Young Berlusconito"

Mediawan Rights has added "The Young Berlusconi" to its documentary line-up for distribution. The series will be launched at Mipcom. “We’re truly excited to add this compelling documentary by B&B Film and Gebrueder Beetz and to our line-up," Arianna Castoldi, Director of International Documentary Sales at Mediawan Rights, said. "This marks our first collaboration with them. Silvio Berlusconi’s years in power have been widely followed, but with its cutting-edge narrative, “The Young Berlusconi” takes a fresh look at the businessman and plunges us into a whole new dimension of his life, long before he became an iconic political figure and profoundly transformed the Italian and European political scene.”

"The Young Berlusconi" is co-produced by Gebrueder Beetz (Leonine), a German production company, and B&B Film, an Italian production company, for Netflix Italy, Arte in France and ZDF in Germany. Mediawan Rights is distributing the documentary internationally in the remaining territories. Sales will be launched during MIPCOM, which kicks off in Cannes on 16 October. “This series is from the starting point a 50:50 collaboration between our old friends from B&B Films and us," Christian Beetz, Producer and CEO of Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion, said. 

The documentary series explores a little-known period in the life of one o European controversial businessmen and politicians, Silvio Berlusconi, from his early days as a property developer to his rise to power. Narrated in a dynamic fashion, the documentary uses archive footage as well as never-before-seen interviews with a number of personalities who worked with and alongside him, and who, through anecdotes, providing a new insight into Silvio Berlusconi. They include: Adriano Galliani, Jack Lang and Anne Sinclair. The portrait of this maverick reveals how he profoundly transformed Italian politics and, more importantly, Italian identity. "With our Show-runner and creative producer Georg Tschurtschenthaler we worked closely together with the team of Raffaele Brunetti and Vania Del Borgo to work on a never seen before portrait of the young Berlusconi," Beetz continues. "The series includes the closest friends and critic voices to paint a compelling image of this young businessman and politician.”

The reveals a new perspective on the politician and focuses on a lesser-known period of his life and explores how he came to power. The three episodes of this mini-series look back at the youth and incredible career of this atypical figure: from his work as an entrepreneur in the building trade to his investment in the sporting world when he bought the AC Milan football club, via his career in television with the creation of a media group, from the mid-1970s until 1994, the year in which he became head of the Italian government for the first time.  Above all, the documentary sheds light on his unique mindset and boundless ambition, which revolutionised Italian public life.

“We are very happy to release our original series, unlike any other previous film portrait of Berlusconi and based on unprecedented access to the people closest to him," Raffaele Brunetti, Producer B&B Film, said. "It’s Berlusconi beyond the clichés, introducing audiences to the less familiar man who brought commercial TV to Italy and Europe, transforming citizens into consumers, becoming very rich in the process, and preparing the ground for his rise to power. We know it will spark debate!”