Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment
Christianity at Cannes 2017: Vatican, Pope Francis, Fatima, Joan of Arc … and Jesus vs. Zombies

Christianity at Cannes 2017: Vatican, Pope Francis, Fatima, Joan of Arc … and Jesus vs. Zombies

Last updated on: June 2, 2017 at 12:23 pm by Kate O'Hare

Christianity at Cannes 2017: Vatican, Pope Francis, Fatima, Joan of Arc … and Jesus vs. Zombies 2017-06-02T12:23:07-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The 70th annual Cannes Film Festival ends on Sunday in Cannes, France, and — for good or otherwise — Christian-themed films and the Catholic Church have been part of the scene.

The prestigious event, which includes scripted films and documentaries, is by invitation only. The top award is the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm), handed out to the best film presented.

Along with actual films, Cannes is also a place to make announcements about upcoming projects and talk about the film industry in general.

Here’s a rundown of the decidedly mixed bag of news so far …

The Vatican at Cannes

Website Aleteia grabbed an interview at Cannes with Monsignor Dario Vigano, Prefect of the Holy See’s Secretariat for Communications, a priest and film expert who was at Cannes for the “Sacré de la Beauté Festival” [Sacred Festival of Beauty] promoted by the “Diaconia of Beauty.”

Click here to read the whole thing. Here’s a taste, responding to a question about what Pope Francis thinks about cinema:

During his recent journey to Milan, Pope Francis spoke about film and cinema with young people preparing to receive the sacrament of confirmation. Recalling the famous 1943 film by Vittorio De Sica, The children are watching us [I bambini ci guardano], the pope called that film, and many of the films made after the war, a “true ‘catechesis’ on humanity” (Milan, March 25, 2017), because of their power to tell the story of hardship together with hope, of misery coupled with redemption.

Director Wim Wenders’ Documentary Featuring Pope Francis

Focus Features announced that it had acquired worldwide rights to “Pope Francis — A Man of His Word,” a new documentary, co-produced with the Vatican, from German director Wim Wenders, who won a Palme d’Or for “Paris, Texas” in 1984.

While it’s hard to tell how much he practices the Faith, Wenders was raised Catholic in Dusseldorf.

From Crisis magazine in 1998:

The question of the relationship between Wenders’s Catholic background and his films seems at first difficult to answer. While the filmmaker has always been willing to discuss his life and work in connection to the cinema, he has supplied little information about himself. “I have the same biography as Scorsese—in so far as being Catholic goes, and wanting to become a priest,” he told an interviewer in 1976. And he noted again in 1988, “You keep a lot of what formed you as a child, and I think I was profoundly formed by growing up in a Catholic family, and by my father’s profession. He’s a surgeon, a really committed doctor.”

Regarding the new film, which is still in production and has no release date, from Vatican Radio:

Focus Features said the star film director is currently working the ‘historic non-fiction’ film, emphasizing that it is not a film about Pope Francis, but rather a film project with him.

It said it will feature Pope Francis in conversation, and discussing issues such as ecological responsibility, immigration, consumer behavior and social justice, addressing the audience directly.

The press release also said “it is a great exception in the history of the Vatican that the doors are opened to an external filmmaker so liberally. In addition to the privilege of talking to the Pope several times, Wim Wenders is given the opportunity to use exclusive material from the Vatican Archives.”

New “Fatima” Film With Harvey Keitel and Sonia Braga

Arclight Films launched sales at Cannes for its upcoming “Fatima,” a scripted film based on the famous 1917 apparitions in Portugal, currently in their 100th-anniversary year. The film, currently in preproduction, has no release date.

On the anniversary of the first Fatima apparition, on Saturday, May 13, Pope Francis traveled to the shrine in Portugal and canonized sibling witnesses Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who died of illnesses within a few years of the apparations. The third child witness, their cousin Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, became a nun and passed away in 2005 at the age of 97.

From Deadline.com:

Harvey Keitel and Sonia Braga are set to star in Fatima, a project about three children who experience the supernatural and accept their quest to bring a message of peace to the world. Marco Pontecorvo is directing and Arclight Films is launching sales on the project to buyers in Cannes.

…

Origin Entertainment’s James T. Volk, Braven Films’ Frida Torresblanco, Rose Pictures’ Rose Ganguzza and Natasha Howes produce the title.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

We’re thrilled to be working with the incredible team behind Fatima, including the remarkably talented Harvey Keitel and Sonia Braga,” said Gary Hamilton, managing director of Arclight Films. “Cannes is the perfect place to introduce buyers to this heartfelt and timely film, whose main characters were just this week canonized by the Pope, and that has an impressive, built-in audience around the world.”

He added: “Fatima is a highly commercially viable film that remains true to its miraculous message. The story of Fatima is what real-live legends are made of.”

Jesus and Judas vs. Zombies

On a vastly less serious note, there’s “Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem,” from Spanish filmmakers David Munoz and Adrian Cardona. It’s a spin-off from the duo’s short film, “Fist of Jesus.”

In the blood-soaked horror/comedy short (it’s on YouTube, if you’re interested), Jesus attempts to resurrect Lazarus, who instead turns into a murderous zombie, as does almost everybody else. Jesus them proves to be a pretty handy zombie-fighter, especially when wielding fish as a weapon.

Think “King of Kings” meets “Sharknado.”

The filmmakers presented a proof-of-concept teaser for the new film, to be produced by Spain’s EK Degol, Corte y Confección, France’s To Be Continued and the Netherlands’ House of Nether Horror.

From Variety:

After failing to resurrect Lazarus from the dead, a young Jesus accidentally creates a zombie apocalypse, which Jesus and Judas battle, recruiting 11 mercenaries.

‘Jerusalem’ is one of the craziest and funniest projects we ever read. Revisiting the story of Jesus, the film clearly shows cult potential and will please fans of both early Peter Jackson and Monty Python films,” said Films Boutique CEO Jean-Christophe Simon.

Backed by Canal Plus in France, “Jerusalem” is scheduled to go into production by the end of the year.

Trashing Joan of Arc (Upside: She Can Take It)

And then there’s “Jeannette,” a musical on the early life of Saint Joan of Arc, featuring, according to Variety, “intense, eardrum-rattling death metal” and “freestyle rap.”

I can’t really do better than than what Variety also said:

We all know how Joan of Arc’s story ends: in a blaze of glory. But how did her 15th-century campaign to liberate France begin? That’s where Bruno Dumont’s “Jeannette, the Childhood of Joan of Arc” comes in, taking the early chapters of the future saint’s life — from her first religious vision to her decision to fight — and bringing them to life through song. Granted, it’s a glorious idea, though Dumont is hardly the director to do it, and the result feels outrageous on all accounts: a blasphemous assault on French history, religion, and the musical genre.

An avowed atheist, Dumont dedicated the early stretch of his career to making films that disavow the presence of God in a world dominated by brute human behavior, then surprised everyone three years ago by discovering his funny bone with the delightfully absurdist “Li’l Quinquin,” a bucolic murder mystery commissioned as a miniseries for French television. Also commissioned for the small screen (though a separate theatrical version debuted in Cannes), “Jeannette” reflects the director’s ongoing desire to upset expectations, with less clear — and far less competent — results.

Well, as Oscar Wilde — a deathbed convert to Catholicism — once observed, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”

Image: Palme d’Or symbol of Cannes/Wikimedia Commons

Don’t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog.

Previous Post

May 25, 2017

Mark Rober's Epic Hot Wheels Race ... It's Science!

Next Post

June 2, 2017 Netflix's 'The Keepers': Thoughts and Questions on the Murder of Sister Cathy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz