It all starts with a tweet: “RaiTre had announced the screening of Hammamet. Amelio’s novel film. They gave up on the screening. Fear even of a script ..”. The author of the tweet is Bobo Craxi, PSI candidate for the city council of Rome, referring to the screening of the Hammamet film, initially planned and then suspended. And again: “What is the connection between the airing of a film that romance a historical story of a statesman who have already seen over a million Italians and the candidacy of one of his descendants? It escapes me. @ Rai3 ha made an embarrassing censorship “.
@RaiTre had announced the screening of Hammamet. Amelio’s film-novel.
They gave up on screening.Fear even of a drama .. pic.twitter.com/sLQTiCiLJZ– Bobo Craxi (@bobocraxi) October 1, 2021
Hammamet is the film released in 2020, directed by Gianni Amelio, on the last six months of the life of Bettino Craxi, played by Pierfrancesco Favino. It was foreseen in the Rai3 schedule for October 1st. Not on Rai 1. “Hammamet – explains Michele Anzaldi, secretary of the Rai Supervisory Commission, to the site vigilanza.tv – was released in theaters on January 9, 2020, two months before the lockdown and grossed € 194,890 on the first day of programming, closing in second place at the box office. At the end of the first week, it had touched two and a half million euros, becoming the best grossing ever for director Gianni Amelio. In total, despite the closure of cinemas due to Covid-19, it ranked 21st among the most viewed films in the 2019/2020 Italian season, exceeding 6.5 million in takings so far. And not only Pay TV paid 1,250,000 euros for him; in the home video market (which is in crisis) it grossed € 120,000, and 1,200,000 people, despite the pandemic, went to theaters to see it. And instead the generalist Rai sells it off like this! Even more serious is the fact that Rai is also a co-producer, so instead of thinking about returning the production costs, it ‘sells’ it on Rai3 instead of programming it on Rai1 ”. Anzaldi (Iv) consulted by vigilanza.tv speaks of a matter of par condicio, given the few hours that separated the screening of the film from the vote for the administrative, and considering that Bobo Craxi runs in support of Roberto Gualtieri. But he underlines: “The serious thing is that Rai noticed it only a few hours before the airing of the film already announced for days, and with the election date known for many months. Is it possible that, with all the directors, deputy directors, foremen, and so on, paid handsomely by the fee, no one at Rai has been able to control? “
From Rai – 12 hours after Bobo Craxi’s first pungent tweets – came the clarification on the programming: it will be broadcast “on November 26”. The network note speaks of “normal schedule modulation activity”. But the case, raised by the son of the former prime minister (candidate for the administrative in Rome as leader of the PSI) has now exploded. The film about Craxi “censored by Rai. Why? Elections at the gates? A candidate Craxi? It has been known for some time. Subversive film? But please. Italy is overflowing with fascist greetings, praising Hitler, the moralists of the Beast find themselves sinners and what does Rai do? It censors a good film “, wrote Riccardo Nencini, senator of the PSI and chairman of the education and culture committee of the Senate, in a post. “I hope that next Tuesday 5 October, during his hearing in the Supervisory Commission, the CEO of Rai Carlo Fuortes, who last time informed us of the debt of 300 million euros, will at least show us how to avoid this constantly reported waste. from the press, “added Anzaldi.