Drathouse Films Acquires ‘The Ambassador’

One of my current favorite film distributors, Drafthouse Films, has announced that they have acquired the US rights to one of my favorite documentaries of the year, The Ambassador. This announcement solidifies my prediction that Drafthouse Films is quickly becoming a powerhouse for distributing great cinema.  For those of you that haven’t heard of filmmaker Mads Brugger, or what this film entails, let’s just say it needs to be seen to believed.  Think Borat, only on a much larger, and perilous, scale, and no scripted scenes.  Here’s the official synopsis.

A strange, enigmatic and decadent white diplomat arrives in central Africa, looking like a mixture of Henry Stanley and Karl Lagerfeld. He has recently bought an ambassadorship and claims to be a do-good rich business man, who has come to spearhead a diplomatic mission. Officially he is there to start a factory that produces matches – this, to employ locals and teach how to make this simple piece of fire-making equipment. Unofficially he is really there to gain access to vast reserves of diamonds. The Ambassador is a genre-breaking, tragic comedy about the bizarre world of African diplomacy.

That’s right folks, he pays to become a real diplomat in order to procure African blood diamonds. Look for The Ambassador to hit VOD August 4th, and watch the trailer below.