A new Martin Scorsese film titled “Aldeas, the Final Dream of Pope Francis” is set to launch with a private screening at the Vatican on Tuesday, which marks one year since the pontiff’s death.
Scholas Occurrentes, a global Catholic educational movement founded by the late Pope Francis, has released some first-look images from the film that Scorsese and his team shot across Italy, Indonesia, the African country of Gambia and Vatican City. According to its synopsis, “Aldeas” features Pope Francis’ last, never-before-seen testimony, recorded shortly before his passing.
“At its heart is a film in which entire communities come together to create and share their own stories, including a return by Martin Scorsese to his grandfather’s village in Sicily, where he works with local young people to make a film of their own,” the synopsis says.
“Aldeas” is described as “a powerful convergence of Pope Francis’ and Martin Scorsese’s visions of art, spirituality and humanity,” moving “beyond traditional cinema, transforming storytelling into an act of resistance, identity and purpose, and positioning film as a force for a new culture.”
Courtesy Sikelia Productions
The film’s promotional materials go on to say that “Aldeas” is rooted in Pope Francis’ vision and was described by Francis 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.”
The statement continues: “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.”
On April 21, exactly one year after Pope Francis’ passing, “Aldeas” will be screened just a few steps from where he lived and where his life came to an end.
“This film is a tribute to the Holy Father,” Scorsese said in a statement. “It honors 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 last June with Variety at the Taormina Film Festival Scorsese spoke about the Sicilian component of this project “In a way I think that for me that [Sicilian connection] combined with the religious experiences, it has propted a curiosity and a search as to my own identity. As to who I am,” he said.
“Aldeas” is produced by Aldeas Scholas Films in association with Scorsese’s own Sikelia Productions and Massive Owl Productions. Producers include Scorsese, Teresa Leveratto, Ezequiel del Corral and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, with Lisa Frechette, Romilda de Luca, Ariel Tcach and Ariel Broitman serving as executive producers.
Directors Clare Tavernor and Johnny Shipley, together with producer Amy Foster, lead the creative team. Acclaimed cinematographers Ellen Kuras and Salvatore Totino also contributed to the film.
The project features collaborations with internationally recognized artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, including actor Babou Ceesay, actress Happy Salma and Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, representing Africa, Asia and Europe, respectively.
The film and the broader project are independently financed by international sponsors and donors, ensuring that all proceeds are reinvested in sustaining and expanding the initiative globally.
LBI Entertainment and Double Agent are handling sales on “Aldeas.”
Courtesy Sikelia Productions
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