CNN
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Renowned Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese is set to produce a new documentary that will feature the late Pope Francis’ last on-camera interview.
The film, titled “Aldeas – A New Story,” is also produced in part by Aldeas Scholas Films, the film production arm of Pope Francis’ international non-profit organization Scholas Occurrentes, which was founded in 2013 and focuses on the youth of the world.
The documentary, about a cinema program also named Aldeas, will chronicle the making of several short films that speak to Pope Francis’ passion for community building and emphasis on creativity as “not only a means of expression but a path to hope and transformation,” a media release stated.
“Through hands-on workshops, communities from around the globe will create scripted short films that celebrate their unique identities, histories, and values,” the release added. “The behind-the-scenes stories of these shorts will be interwoven with previously unseen conversations between Pope Francis and Scorsese.”
Before his death earlier this month at the age of 88, Francis spoke of the film and program, saying, “’Aldeas’ is an extremely poetic and very constructive project because it goes to the roots of what human life is, human sociability, human conflicts… the essence of a life’s journey.”
Scorsese added in the release, “Now, more than ever, we need to talk to each other, listen to one another cross-culturally. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by sharing the stories of who we are, reflected from our personal lives and experiences.”
“It helps us understand and value how each of us sees the world,” he said.
The Oscar-winner continued to say that it was “important” to Pope Francis for people around the world “to exchange ideas with respect while also preserving their cultural identity, and cinema is the best medium to do that.”
Aldeas Scholas Films was “inspired by the belief that ‘it takes a whole village to educate a child,’” and works to make some of the “deepest calls” of Francis’ papacy a reality, particularly the need for outreach to the peripheries and building unity in a time of division, the media release said.
Indonesia, The Gambia, and Italy are among the countries set to participate in the project, and the short films made there will eventually premiere in newly established local cinemas, “serving as lasting hubs for cultural expression and education.”
A release date has not yet been announced.
Tens of thousands of people, including dozens of dignitaries, flocked to the Vatican on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis.
Earlier this week, CNN reported that cardinals have chosen May 7 as the date to start conclave and elect a new leader for 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, according to the Vatican.
