Pope biopic set for worldwide release
A biopic on Pope Francis is heading to screens in some 40 countries, the Italian producers of Call Me Francis — The People’s Pope said at its advance press screening.
The international debut of the movie — which will air in Italian cinemas last week — is planned for around March 13, next year, which will be the third anniversary of Francis’ election to the papacy, a spokeswoman said.
She said there were “advanced negotiations” with distributors in most of Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia. Argentinian actor Rodrigo de la Serna plays the lead role in the film, which focuses on Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s pre-papal career.
The movie depicts Bergoglio as a progressive local Jesuit leader firmly at odds with the military junta that ruled his home country of Argentina from 1976 to 1981 — a controversial assertion that is disputed by some.
Italian director Daniele Luchetti, who travelled to Buenos Aires to research the movie, said in a press conference recently that he ignored the voices “of those who came up to me several times to tell me Bergoglio was implicated with the dictatorship”.
Produced by Medusa Film, part of the media empire of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, the 98-minute movie is also going to be released into the longer format of a TV series with four episodes running 50 minutes each.
Tomorrow, a special screening for 7,000 people is scheduled at the Vatican. Medusa Film Chairman Giampaolo Letta said he did not know whether Francis himself was planning to attend.
But, he added that one of the Pope’s closest aides — Argentinian Monsignor Guillermo Karcher — had seen the work and had judged it “truthful”.