Martin Scorsese is set to unveil a new film honouring Pope Francis — with a private Vatican screening marking a year since the pontiff’s death.
The 83-year-old Goodfellas director will present Aldeas, the Final Dream of Pope Francis at a private screening on Tuesday (April 21), timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of Pope Francis, who died aged 88.
Martin’s project, backed by Scholas Occurrentes — the global Catholic educational movement founded by Francis — includes footage shot across multiple countries and features what is described as the late pope’s final recorded testimony.
According to materials released by the organisation, the film brings together communities to tell their own stories, including a return by Martin to his ancestral village in Sicily, where he worked with local young people to make a film.
Promotional materials describe the film as “a powerful convergence of Pope Francis’ and Martin Scorsese’s visions of art, spirituality and humanity”, adding it moves “beyond traditional cinema, transforming storytelling into an act of resistance, identity and purpose, and positioning film as a force for a new culture”.
The project is rooted in Francis’ vision, with the late pontiff describing it as “an extraordinarily poetic and deeply transformative project, because it reaches the very root of human life: our sociability, our conflicts and the very essence of life’s journey”.
A statement accompanying the release said: “Pope Francis understood that cinema would play a fundamental role in making the culture of encounter a reality.
“Working from the peripheries, the project creates space for people to tell their own stories, celebrating cultural diversity while fostering intercultural and intergenerational dialogue.
“It is a new kind of cinema, born from a new kind of education, helping shape a new culture.”
Martin said: “This film is a tribute to the Holy Father.”
He added: “It honours his memory by embodying the spirit of his ministry and his dream of creating an ever more human culture. At this moment in history, I believe that is not only a dream, but a necessity.”
In an interview with Variety at the Taormina Film Festival, Martin said: “In a way I think that for me that (Sicilian connection) combined with the religious experiences, it has prompted a curiosity and a search as to my own identity — as to who I am.”
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