"Mirabile Dictu": International Catholic Film Festival kicks off

(Vatican Radio) Mirabile Dictu in Latin means “something wonderful to tell”. And that’s exactly what the organisers of the “Mirabile Dictu” International Catholic Film Festival want to do: tell film-goers the wonderful Christian message.
Using the power of film, evangelization is at the heart of its mission.
The Rome-based festival, at its 4^th edition (from 24 to 26 June), awards five prizes to films and actors competing in different categories, plus a special prize to French actress Marie-Christine Barrault for her remarkable career.
Festival director, Liana Marabini, explains that this year’s films were chosen from a total of 1800 entries. The films selected to compete all promote “universal moral values” and positive role models. This year's "Year of Faith" theme was also a central motif.
The jury choosing the winners includes Msgr. Franco Perazzolo, who works at the pontifical council, Italian Princess Maria Pia Ruspoli, the Belgian journalist and producer Michèle Navadic, Italian journalist Armando Torno and the American author and film producer James Heartfield IV.
Marabini explains that many of the films chosen to compete focus on the priesthood because, she says, priests are often "overlooked" or portrayed in a negative light in films. "They need to be valued, loved and welcomed" by the laity and the wider community.
A special side-event is dedicated to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, to whom the 2013 edition of the festival is dedicated. It features the screening of the film “In her footsteps” that tells the story of the first American Indian Saint, canonized by Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus in October 2012.