“Cinemas are experiencing an alarming erosion that is driving them away from the city and the surrounding environment. And quite a few people say that the art of filmmaking and the cinematic experience are in danger“. The Pope raised awareness by welcoming the world of cinema in an audience at the Vatican. The call therefore received applause from the directors and actors at the Sala Clementina: “I invite institutions not to give up and work together to affirm the social and cultural value of these activities”.
“Algorithmic logic tends to repeat what ‘works’, but art opens itself up to what is possible. Not everything has to be immediate or predictable: maintain slowness when necessary, silence when it speaks, diversity when it provokes. Beauty is not just an escape, but above all a prayer”, said the Pope.
“Don’t be afraid to face the world’s fears“, Prevost warned the directors and actors he met at the Vatican. “Our era – he said – needs witnesses of hope, of beauty, of truth: you can become that with your works of art. Restoring the authenticity of images to preserve and enhance human dignity is within the power of good cinema and those who are its authors and protagonists.”
“Do not be afraid to face the wounds of the world. Violence, poverty, exile, loneliness, addiction, forgotten wars are wounds that ask to be seen and told. Great cinema does not exploit pain: it accompanies it, it investigates it. All great directors have done this. Giving voice to the complex, contradictory and sometimes dark feelings that inhabit the human heart is an act of love. Art must not escape the mystery of fragility: it must listen to it, it must know how to pause before it. Cinema, without being didactic, is in itself, in its authentic artistic forms, has the possibility of educating the mind,” underlined Leo XIV.
So the recommendation: “May your cinema always be a meeting place, a home for those who seek meaning, a language of peace. May he never lose his ability to amaze, continuing to show us even one part of God’s mystery.”
“May God bless you, your work, and the people you love. And may He always accompany you on your creative pilgrimage, so that you can become craftsmen of hope. Thank you for what you do,” said the final farewell before saying goodbye to each of them.
Spike Lee Tribute
Spike Lee, who was ecstatic at Pope’s selection of Provost because he saw it as a “divine sign” indicating that his favorite basketball team — the Knicks — would win the NBA playoffs, was among the directors Pope received at Clementine Hall this morning. When saying goodbye, the American director paid tribute to the Pope, a sports enthusiast, with a basketball t-shirt that read ‘Pope Leo’. Other actors and directors – while kissing hands – also paid tribute to the Pope, often with volume. Like Giacomo Poretti who gave Prevost his latest literary work ‘The Cheat of Having a Soul’.
