Principal documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, whose “Sacro Gra” won Venice’s Golden Lion in 2013, is back at Lido with In Viaggio, a document on Pope Francis’ travels in which the director creates a counterpoint between archival footage and images that Rosi shot Himself.
In the first nine years of his tenure, Pope Francis made 37 trips to visit 53 countries, focusing on his main issues: poverty, immigration, the environment, solidarity, and war.
Fascinated by the fact that two of Francis’ voyages – the first for refugees, landed on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa; Second in 2021 to the Middle East – where she closely mirrored the director’s paths of “Fuocoammare” (Fire At Sea, 2016) and “Notturno” (2020), Rosie follows the Pope’s Stations of the Cross. Press notes note that he “sees what he sees, hears what he says,” and combines archival footage of Francis’ travels with photos by Rosie himself and recent historical events.
In his director’s statement, Rosie says: “I first met Pope Francis after he saw the movie Fire at Sea and visited Lampedusa. We spoke briefly in the Vatican about the problem of forced migration, which was indeed a crucial issue for him. But I had no idea how much His travels even gave an interview to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano for Notorno, Rossi adds.
“Travel for Francis is an intellectual and spiritual exercise. I was fascinated by the idea of this constantly moving pope, circling the globe. I asked to see some footage from his travels and ended up with a sea of about 500 hours of material. Would it be possible to transform this sea of press reporting? Neutral to a convincing portrait of this man?”, the director wonders.
“We were constantly rearranging, adding and cutting, feeling a cohesive sequence no matter the place, chronology or subject matter.”
Then, Rosie says, “The invasion of Ukraine changed our approach and forced the materials into a coherent order. Chronology became essential. Francis had always spoken forcefully against every war. Now his warnings and analysis of the pattern of war have emerged.”
In Viaggio, produced by Rosi’s 21Uno Film with Donatella Palermo’s Stemal Entertainment and RAI Cinema, premieres in Venice on September 5. The Match Factory handles international sales.
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