The film Padre Pio by Abel Ferrara will be presented as a national premiere in the Sanctuary of San Giovanni Rotondo, in its dubbed version, an Italy/Germany co-production, produced by Maze Pictures and Interlinea film, with the participation of the director and screenwriter Maurice Braucci. After the presentation in the original language at the 79th edition of the Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica, at the Venice Biennale, there is much anticipation for the dubbed version. The official presentation will be held in San Giovanni Rotondo and in the Vatican on November 24th. The San Giovanni Rotondo event will take place over two days, Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 November.
The mayor of the city of San Pio announced the important event: “We are proud to host this important event in our city, we are also moved by the contemporaneity with the Holy See – declares the mayor Michele Crisetti – San Pio dal Gargano arrives in New York thanks also to this film. We are also grateful to the director for having told important facts in the history of our city, those of the 1920 massacre, a story that is often forgotten but belongs to all of us. The city of San Giovanni Rotondo owes much to his beloved saint who, as he recently recalled Pope francesco, he fought evil throughout his life: with humility, with obedience, with the cross, offering pain out of love. Every year our city is a destination for pilgrims who come to seek spirituality and peace in this piece of the Gargano, the same spirituality which, I am sure, struck the director of the film. That great, unique and amazing strength that only San Pio transmits. The event that we will host with the Capuchin friars will be yet another demonstration of the great spiritual message and its great international strength”.
The feature film by the New York director, Abel Ferrara, based on the letters of Padre Pio and written together with Maurice Braucci, recounts the charismatic figure of the Capuchin friar in an unprecedented way. History and sacredness are intertwined in the film starring the actor Shia Labeouf. It is not a hagiography, nor the spectacularization of miracles: it is the story of a young man who studies to become a friar and of his complex soul, as he tries to get away from the temptations of the flesh and the spirit, and that of the rise of the first peasant and worker movements, two parallel stories that meet in the Gargano valleys.
Among the other protagonists of the film Cristina Chiriac, Marco Leonardi, the young talents Vincenzo Crea and Brando Pacitto with the extraordinary participation of Asia Argento. The music of Joe Delia and the photograph of Abbot Alexander they accompany and illuminate the journey through the human and spiritual story of Padre Pio. Three appointments scheduled in San Giovanni Rotondo, Saturday 26 November at 18:00, in the Auditorium “Maria Pyle”, in the Sanctuary of San Pio, there will be a screening of the film and to follow the director and screenwriter will meet the audience present in room. The evening will be conducted by the actress and singer Martina Difonteactress also in the film “Tommaso” also by Abel Ferrara and fresh from the red carpet in Venice with “The Great War of Salento”, directed by Marco PolliniMarco Leonardi is also in the cast. Currently on stage in the Theater with “Padre Della Sposa”, directed by Gianluca Guidi and “Fiori D’Acciaio”, directed by Michela Andreozzi & Massimiliano Vado, products from Francesco Bellomo, in collaboration with the journalist Gennaro Tedesco, who recently dedicated a documentary to the events of 1920. Saturday evening is accessed by invitation. Sunday 27 November at 9:00 the director will hold a masterclass dedicated to young people (info: [email protected]), and finally at 20:00 it will be screened with free admission subject to availability of seats with reservations required (info and reservations [email protected]). The film was also made thanks to the contribution and patronage of the Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual – Ministry of Culture and Apulian Film Commission. The San Giovanni Rotondo event is organized by the Municipality of San Giovanni Rotondo, in collaboration with the Capuchin Friars Minor of San Giovanni Rotondo, the Archdiocese of Manfredonia – Vieste – San Giovanni Rotondo and Interlinea Film.