The festival strives to embrace, encourage and empower every young person to become the voice of hope and solidarity.

"You, young people, are the architects of the future, signs of hope. And we have great hope in all of you. With you, we want to dream and build a better tomorrow," said Salesians head, Fr Angel Fernandex Artime to potential paricipants.

"With your creativity, you can truly help to change the world. I invite you, come and participate in this festival of short films. This is your festival, come and let us move the world with hope," he said.

Conceived in December 2020 and premiering last week, the first annual Don Bosco Global Film Festival received 1,686 short film submissions from 116 countries.

Chosen by an international jury, the best films were streamed last week in 135 different countries.

The film festival sought short film submissions from filmmakers aged 15 to 30. The films could be in any genre within five categories: One-Minute Short Films, 10-Minute Short Films, One-Minute Animated Shorts, 10-Minute Shorts and Music Videos.

Entrants competed for the top spots in all five categories, which awarded prizes amounting to 100,000 euros. A diverse jury of professional filmmakers from around the world was lined up to judge the films.

In addition, films were awarded cash prizes in categories such as global bests, continental bests and category bests - such as narrative, screenplay, sound design and editing.

In addition, there were individual awards for best actor and actress, best writer and best director.

The festival was organized by the Salesians of Don Bosco, whose aim was to create "a world-class film festival platform to showcase ... young creative filmmaking talents."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Salesian Institutions of Higher Education

Portuguese production company Imaginew said Mourinho will be the voice of the Pontiff in four languages - Portuguese, English, Spanish and Italian, the Catholic Herald reported.

These are "the languages of the countries where he [Mourinho] has already been a champion", the company said.

The film, called Fe, is being made to mark the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three children in Fatima.

It is scheduled to premiere on May 13, 2017, the centenary of the first apparition.

The choice of Mourinho has been approved by the Vatican, according to reports in Portugal.

Rui Pedro Oliveira, who signed Mourinho for the voiceover for Imaginew, said the football star manager took up the offer "without reticence or demands".

Mourinho is expected to donate his fee from the film to a charity for underprivileged children.

The 52-year-old Portuguese manager, who is regarded as one of the greatest football bosses of all time, has spoken of his Catholicism.

"I believe totally, clearly," he told the Telegraph in an interview last year.

"Every day I pray, every day I speak with [Jesus]. I don't go to the church every day, not even every week. I go when I feel I need to. And when I'm in Portugal, I always go."

He said he prays for his family life and for happiness.

"But I can say the reality is I never go to the church to speak with him about football. Never!"

He and his wife Tami support several causes including a Catholic food programme in Setúbal, Portugal.

Mourinho's first job was teaching children with Down's syndrome and with mental disabilities.

From there he went on to coaching 16-year-olds before entering professional football.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• The Telegraph
• Image: Givemesport.com

The film production company ENVI Pictures issued a statement on Monday saying Pope Francis will appear in the film "Beyond the Sun".

The Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, Msgr Dario Edoardo Viganò, said "the Pope is not an actor".

He said no scenes for the movie involving the Pope were filmed "for purpose".

But Msgr Viganò did not rule out video clips of the Pope being in the film, as has happened before.

Any profits from the film will be used to support two Argentine charities for children.

Continue reading

We read about them in history books without giving much thought to how the world could have been different had they stayed with us.

In this instance, the subject is Bethlehem, a city that is vanishing in front of our eyes. Does it matter?

This is the question I have been asking myself since Christmas 2004, when I embarked on a film that was meant to chronicle the changes taking place in my hometown.

Israel had just started building a wall that today confines Bethlehem to less than 13 per cent of its original territory, a development that threatens to drive out all of its Christian population.

I have always known that Bethlehem is a unique place but it was always difficult to put it into words.

Despite its global fame, no one has tried to tell the story of my town beyond the stereotypes of the Nativity or the brutality of military occupation.

Yet Bethlehem does have another story, and understanding it is key to a meaningful engagement with the politics of the Middle East.

It wasn't until very recently that I discovered an account that supports my long-held belief about Bethlehem's unusual pedigree. Continue reading.

Source: The Elders

Image: Operation Bethlehem/Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation

Even today, there's a lingering stigma about women who choose to place their children for adoption. Unnatural, people say, and jump to conclusions about the woman's lifestyle, character and state of mind.

If times have changed, it's only in that the stigma used to attach unilaterally to unwed mothers. And that stigma was strong enough to keep Philomena Lee silent for 50 years.

The world now knows about Philomena Lee. In 2009, journalist Martin Sixsmith published a book about the son whom she bore in an Irish convent, and whom the nuns tore from her when he was 3 years old and sent off to America with a new set of adoptive parents.

In 2013, the book became the basis for a film starring Judi Dench, who has been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for playing the role of Philomena — more or less. Continue reading.

Source: Washington Post

Image: Vatican Insider

"We thought the whole story wasn't being told in the media about the evidence for God from physics," the Jesuit priest told CNA.

"We're utterly convinced that the evidence from physics shows the existence of God and certainly does not take away from it."

The 49-minute documentary, titled "Cosmic Origins," features eight physicists who discuss the big bang theory, theories of modern physics, and eventually discuss the need for a creator.

Along with Fr. Spitzer, a former Gonzaga University President and founder of the Magis Center for Faith and Reason, the film features Michael Heller of the Vatican Observatory, Nobel Laureate Arno Penzias, and a slew of professors from Harvard and Cambridge.

In choosing the physicists for the film, Fr. Spitzer made sure that every scientist was "absolutely top in their field, world class, they had to be a Nobel prize winner, a Templeton prize winner, or come from Harvard or Cambridge or from the top ranks of NASA."

The scientists "come pretty much out of the closet," and affirm that it is impossible for the universe to be random and without purpose, he said.

In the film, after discussing the Big Bang theory and affirming it scientifically, the physicists say there still must be a beginning or cause of the universe, even with theories of modern physics.

"When the universe was nothing, it could not have moved itself from nothing, something else had to do it, and that something else was a transcendent creator," Fr. Spitzer said. Continue reading

Image: CNA