Sabina Guzzanti

Sabina Guzzanti (born July 25, 1963) is an Italian actress devoted to comedy and satire. Her pieces, her movies and her public declarations display an engaged attention for social and political Italian life.

Life and career

Born in Rome as the eldest daughter of celebrated Italian political commentator and journalistPaolo Guzzanti (former senator of Forza Italia, incumbent deputy and deputy secretary for Italian liberal party), she graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts of Rome.^[1] Her first appearances on stage were at the side of her brother Corrado, a skilled comedian known for parody and imitation. Her career began when she took part in a series of successful television comedy formats such as Proffimamente... non stop (directed by Enzo Trapani), L'araba fenice(directed by Antonio Ricci), La TV delle ragazze and Scusate l'interruzione;^[2] her imitations of the famous Italian porn star Moana Pozzi gave her popularity, and the Italian film directorGiuseppe Bertolucci recruited her to star in his film I Cammelli.^[1] Her career in this period was at its apex, as she starred in several films, toured Italian theatres with her own comedy shows (such as Con fervido zelo in 1991, and Non io: Sabina e le altre in 1994^[2]), and even held her one-woman show La posta del cuore. Her first attempt at directing is the 1998 short Donna selvaggia.

In November 2003 Sabina Guzzanti wrote, directed and was featured in the first and only installment of Raiot, a late-night TV political satire show broadcast on Rai Tre. After lampooning Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi, she was sued by Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset lawyers (notablyCesare Previti's law firm) for "lies and insinuation" and the show was pulled amid controversy; in the suing document Previti defined satire as "that thing which tends to minimize and to make a politician likeable, to diminish the social tensions" ("quella cosa che tende a sdrammatizzare e a rendere simpatico un politico, a diminuire le tensioni sociali"^[3]) as the basis to accuse the show of not being satirical but a direct political attack. As a form of protest, the second instalment was recorded live in the Auditorium of Rome and broadcast by independent television networks; during the event among others Dario Fo, Beppe Grillo and Daniele Luttazzi gave her their support.^[4] After that Sabina Guzzanti announced that the only official instalment of Raiot had completely vanished from the RAI's archives.^[3]

Sabina Guzzanti presents her side of the story in her film Viva Zapatero! (2005). In the film, she shows how not only herself but also critics of Berlusconi are cracked down on with means like firing and law suits. The film also illustrates that making fun of Berlusconi and his politics is not accepted in the media controlled by Berlusconi.

At the end of 2005 she was once again allowed on television to feature in the last installment of Adriano Celentano's show Rockpolitik, but the producers "forbade" her to speak about Silvio Berlusconi.^[5] After the victory of L'Unione in the 2006 elections and the progressive fading of Berlusconi's influence on the RAI, she declared she still wouldn't return to work at the RAI unless serious reforms were launched to make the company's management independent from the politicians.^[6]

In July 2008, in front of thousands of cheering onlookers at Piazza Navona, Rome, Guzzanti made remarks about the Pope, saying that he would end up in hell as punishment for the church's treatment of homosexuals, saying that he would soon be "tormented by great big poofter devils - and very active ones". Although threatened with punishments of up to five years in prison for these comments, she was not prosecuted.^[7] Guzzanti discussed it on the seventh season finale of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, which was critical of the Vatican.

Since 1987, Sabina Guzzanti has been a member of Soka Gakkai.^[8]

Works

At the 64th Venice Film Festival

[edit]Films

• Draquila - L'Italia che trema, script by Sabina Guzzanti, 2010
• Le ragioni dell'aragosta, directed and written by Sabina Guzzanti, 2007
• Viva Zapatero!, directed by Sabina Guzzanti, script by Sabina Guzzanti, 2005
• Bimba, directed by Sabina Guzzanti, script by Sabina Guzzanti, 2001
• Troppo sole, directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci, 1994
• La cattedra, directed by Michele Sordillo, 1991
• I ragazzi di via Panisperna, directed by Gianni Amelio, 1989
• Night club, directed by Sergio Corbucci, 1989
• I cammelli, directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci, 1988

Books

• Reperto RaiOt., published by BUR Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2005
• Viva Zapatero!, published by BUR Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2005
• Il diario di Sabna Guzz, published by Einaudi, 2003
• Mi consenta una riflessione (anche se non è il mio ramo), published by Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2002

Posted in: Italian actresses