As we approach a critical referendum on UK membership of the EU, this gripping and hopeful film takes us behind the scenes of the European Parliament, as a little-noticed piece of legislation transforms into one of the biggest battle grounds of the twenty-first century.
Elevating bureaucratic corridors into art, David Bernet’s almost “Lives of Others” doc follows the young and unconventional Green Party MEP, Jan Philipp Albrecht, as he accidentally gains control of a new Data Protection Bill. Suitless, and seemingly naïve, he quickly finds himself the target of every lobbyist in Brussels – cornered and berated for trying to uphold citizen freedom over data grabbing. Yet Albrecht proves a quietly tenacious opponent – and Democracy reveals that its subject is truly a stranger, subtler and more powerful premise than you might expect.
Followed in the cinema by short audience-led reflections on the challenges posed by the EU Referendum.
