July 03, 2012: The third edition of the International Catholic Film Festival, began
in Rome on Monday. Over the next three days films will compete in six categories,
Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Actress and Actor and Best Director. During
the inauguration of the Festival, the program of the International Congress on "Cinema
and the new evangelization", will also be presented. The Congress, which is under
the patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for
the New Evangelization, will be the first in a series of events take place in 10 cities
around the world (including Vienna, Los Angeles, Toronto and Rio de Janeiro) between
2012 and 2013. Laura Marabini is the founder and President of the International
Catholic Film Festival. At an interview with Vatican Radio, she spoke about the role
film can play in promoting Evangelization. “Today films have the role that painting
had during the Renaissance… a film is a very accessible tool, everybody understands
a film..… so I think it’s the simplest and most accessible tool to evangelize”, she
said The International Catholic Film Festival runs until July 5th.