Cinema release despite lockdown – Milo Rau’s Jesus movie premieres at the IDFA Amsterdam and starts in German cinemas

A “political passion play” (Variety), which “vibrantly and excitingly” (Cineuropa) brings the Bible into the present day: the new Milo Rau film “The New Gospel”, which was celebrated by the press and the public at the Venice Film Festival, is running this Sunday in the official competition of the Amsterdam IDFA and will be released in German cinemas from December 17. “Part activist documentary, part fictional Bible film, part meditation on filmmaking” (New York Times) brings this “cinematographic masterpiece“ (Port-au-Prince) a „black Jesus in the land of the very white Vatican“ (filmmaker).

“The aim was to film the original spirit as a passion story”, explains Milo Rau in an extensive video interview with Cineuropa. In the role of Jesus, activist Yvan Sagnet can be seen as the first black Jesus in European film history. The recently deceased Enrique Irazoqui, who played Jesus in Pasolini’s film “The Gospel According to Matthew”, plays as John the Baptist his last movie role.

→ Watch the trailer here.

Cinema release instead of lockdown: In addition to the physical launch of the film, Port au Prince Pictures has developed a revolutionary new distribution strategy adapted to COVID-19: a digital theatrical release starting December 27th, with cinemas directly participating in the streaming revenues. Further information can be found here.

The second season of the online debate format “School of Resistance”, organized by Milo Rau and NTGent in cooperation with the IIPM, the Academy of the Arts, medico international and the Federal Cultural Foundation, starts already today, Thursday. In the 10th edition of the School of Resistance (“Speaking the Truth is not a crime”) the Turkish author and ex-journalist Ece Temelkuran together with the former drone programmer and whistleblower Cian Westmoreland and the international human rights lawyer Renata Ávila discuss the right to freedom of expression and responsibility in the age of disinformation.