La Cicciolina. Godmother of Scandal (2016)

The life of Ilona Staller, commonly known as Cicciolina, is probably unique with regard to her art as well as her person. Emigrating from communist Hungary, she followed the call of the "dolce vita" to Italy and found it a fertile environment for a life dedicated to scandal. When she started posing as a scantily dressed nymph in naughty photographs her career picked up speed and steadily propelled her into the realms of radio, TV, erotic films and pornography. As the first porn star in the history of democracy, Ilona Staller managed to be elected Member of Parliament and her unexpected victory guaranteed her worldwide attention. Her turbulent relationship with Jeff Koons, whose wife and muse she became, finally secured her iconic status in contemporary pop culture. Based on profoundly researched archive material and directed both with passion and a twinkle of irony, La Cicciolina. Godmother of Scandal captures the phenomenon Ilona Staller in its multiple facets and places it in the wider context of Italy's political situation at the time.