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Influence

Original title: Influence
Year: 2020
Running time: 105 min.
Country: South Africa
Director: Diana Neille, Richard Poplak
Cast: Documentary
Music: Florencia Di Concilio
Producer: Co-production South Africa-Canada;
Chronicle Productions
Genre: Documentary | Politics. Journalism
Synopsis: This story of influence and weaponized communication centers on the infamous Lord Tim Bell and his associates, known for their controversial geopolitical spin-doctoring. Bell, who started his career in advertising, had an affinity for difficult briefs and “people with problems,” as he liked to call them. He designed campaigns for unpopular politicians, dictators, disgraced companies, and celebrities the same way he put together product branding—by being concise and brutal. In 1987 he cofounded Bell Pottinger, which quickly became one of the most influential reputation-management companies in the world—until one of those campaigns incited racial division in South Africa and ruined BP’s reputation to a degree beyond spinning. Its cause of death was shrewdly described by the New York Times as “acute embarrassment.”

Awards: 2020: Sundance Film Festival: World Cinema Documentary Competition

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User history

Influence

2020

Diana Neille, Richard Poplak