Meryl Streep, Steven Soderbergh premiere Panama Papers movie 'Laundromat' in Venice
"The Laundromat" is one of two Netflix films vying for the festivals top Golden Lion prize.
VENICE (Reuters) - Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman walked the Venice Film Festival red carpet for the world premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s "The Laundromat", a drama based on the massive leak of offshore financial data known as the Panama Papers.
With a cast also including Antonio Banderas and Sharon Stone, the Netflix film seeks to explain the debacle via lessons from characters’ personal stories.
The so-called Panama Papers, consisting of millions of leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in April 2016, provoked a global scandal after revealing how the rich and powerful used offshore corporations to evade taxes.
Speaking directly to viewers, Oldman and Banderas portray lawyers Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca who try to give their side of the story.
In a similar manner to "The Big Short" about the 2007 financial crisis, the two quirkily explain the world of shell companies and offshore accounts to the audience, who are also taken on a journey of illicit dealings as well as corruption via China, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.
"The Laundromat" is one of two Netflix films vying for the festival’s top Golden Lion prize, which the streaming giant won last year for "Roma".
