!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHILDREN OF DICTATORS. 4 x 45 / 1 X 90

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1 1 CHILDREN OF DICTATORS 4 x 45 / 1 X 90

2 SYNOPSIS Imagine that you are a child of a dictator with absolute power. Up to the military coup in Chile, in Nazi-Germany, in the 70ties in Uganda or anywhere in the world where there is a dictatorship with absolute power. Your father is the most feared person in your country. He can do whatever he wants and probably you can get whatever you want too. But at a certain point history just turns around and people start to call your father a dictator. He is loosing everything but you remain his daughter or son with a stigma. But can history change your mind about your father? And can facts effect your emotions? And how will you deal with the heavy heritage that your father leaves behind? These are the central questions which influenced CHILDREN OF DICTATORS. The program presents some of the most influential dictators of the 20th century from Africa to South America through the eyes of their children and relatives. The hour-long episodes bring a rarely seen personal perspective on history and offer a deeper understanding of the most feared leaders in the world while focusing on the portraits of their children. The filmmakers worked without a crew, with only two small broadcast cameras in order to have undisturbed and exclusive access to children of dictators, namely Lucia Pinochet in Chile, Jaffar Amin in Uganda, Bettina Goering in Germany and Fidel Castro's daughter in Miami. 2

3 1. EPISODE: IDI AMIN DADA Background: Hundreds of thousands of people were murdered during the regime of Idi Amin Dada in Uganda. One of them was Idi Amin's close friend and minister, Oboth Ofumbi. This brutal murder and its absurd cover-up eventually led to the downfall of the African dictator. The children of both Ofumbi and Amin had to grow up abroad for different reasons They are from different tribes, they believe in different Gods and they remember history differently. Protagonists: More than 30 years after the tragic events the son of Idi Amin meets the son of Oboth Ofumbi in Uganda and the most unpredictable journey of their lives begins... They leave Kampala for Kidepo National Park as they currently work for the same businessman who is planning to turn of Idi Amin's megalomanic dreams into reality: a huge hotel in the game park. After traveling day and night they arrive to the park. In the next few days they go for safaris to discover the park, visit the structure of the hotel and most importantly start sharing their memories with each other from their childhood to the tragedy... Eventually Ofumbi's son invites Amin's son to his family ranch where a tribal, religious and family reconciliation takes place with Muslim, Christian and local community leaders according to African traditions. 3

4 Visual approach: As the spine-bone of the protagonists' dramatic conversation takes place in one of the most beautiful national parks in Africa, the viewers can see for themselves how the magnificent scenery and wildlife amaze the two men and set them off for their inner journey. The film is rich in exclusive, unseen archive footage about Idi Amin and the Ofumbi family both at the family ranch and in Buckingham Palace, bringing an era alive decades after it's long gone. 4

5 2. EPISODE: FIDEL CASTRO Background: The Comandante kept his private life as private as possible. This was one of the reasons it was a huge scandal that his daughter Alina escaped from Cuba more than twenty years ago when the country was on the edge of financial collapse. Now his father is ill, there are rumors if he is alive at all. Protagonist: Alina lives in Miami quietly where Cuban crowds are planning a huge mass celebration for the day when Alina's father will die. She doesn't know if she will join them though she has never been able to forgive her dad for what he caused to her and their country. We see her in her home, in the bars of Little Havana, in a Cuban radio show and in her yoga class in Miami while we visit the locations of her childhood in Cuba from her home to her ballet school where we talk to her ex-teacher who gives another perspective on Alina... The film ends in Cuba and in Miami after the death of Fidel Castro, showing mourning, celebration and Alina. 5

6 Visual approach: There are two major locations in the film: where Alina lives now and where she came from. Miami is the centre of Cuban immigrants in the US, they have built Little Havana for themselves in a big American city on the East Coast. To see Cuba after Miami is painful but visually much more intense which gives a sense of what all the immigrants miss from home including Alina. 6

7 3. EPISODE: AUGUSTO PINOCHET Background: As one of the most controversial dictators of history, Augusto Pinochet still generates a lot of debate in his country about his legacy, decades after his fall. He turned Chile into one of the most successful South American countries. In the same time more than 3,000 people were killed. Protagonist: Surprisingly Augusto Pinochet's daughter Lucia is approached by his father's fans in the streets of Santiago de Chile. But to certain areas of the country she is afraid to go as she fears she would be beaten up because of her father. She accepts the fact that her father was a dictators but she believes he was a good one... In the film Lucia Pinochet recalls tense conversations with her father and with the head of the secret service while sharing the atmosphere of a loving and warm family environment. Eventually she meets one of the most outspoken critic of her father. 7

8 Visual approach: The film follows Lucia from the skyscrapers of Santiago de Chile to suburbs of the capital to towns in the countryside to follow the story of her father and her own life in the same time. Rare archive footage included about the aggression of the regime. 8

9 4. EPISODE: HERMANN GÖRING Background: Hermann Goering was Adolf Hitler's right hand and the second man of the Nazi Empire. He signed the final solution to eliminate the Jewish people in Europe. While committing crimes against humanity, he was apparently a loving and central member of his family, saving his brother Albert on several occasions who saved Jews during the war across Europe. Protagonist: The great-niece of Goering looks like Hermann more than anyone else in the family. She struggled with the Nazi heritage throughout her life, at the age of 30 she got herself sterilized, partly to cut the genes... After decades in the US she decides to leave and settle somewhere else. The film follows her to Germany to dig for her roots, face victims of her family, publish her autobiography and find peace within herself. On this journey she is accompanied by her husband Adi whose historic reflections based on their research add another layer to Bettina's personal story in the film while show their common commitment to deal with the past. 9

10 Visual approach: Berlin as it is today in times of remembering destroyed diversity from the Jewish Museum to a typical apartment in Berlin to the labyrinth of the Holocaust Memorial to an outdoor exhibition with the TV tower in the background. Green and brown colors dominate the scene of Carinhall hiding from Bettina and her husband who are trying to find it to get closer to Bettina's roots as the roots of the forest already took back the place of the concrete building destroyed more than half a decade ago. 10

11 CONTACT Autentic GmbH Alexandra Böhm Grünwalder Weg 28D Oberhaching Germany Phone: