Does every generation need its own Jesus? The film legacy about the historical figure suggests just that. Matera in southern Italy served as a backdrop for Pasolini, Mel Gibson and many others.
Spring 2024. With great anticipation, the elderly Piero Taddeo looks out his window. "It will be the most exciting year of my life," he tells us laughing into the camera. But it's not just him, his entire village of Matera is eager to see will happen this year. "It's almost exactly 70 years ago when Jesus made his first appearance in our southern Italian village." It was the beginning of an intimate relationship. Matera is the place where most Jesus films were shot worldwide. In 2024 there will be two international cinema premieres from Matera. "And Mel Gibson is planning to shoot his second Jesus movie here," Geo Coretti from Matera is quite sure. He has already received a call from Hollywood. Years ago, Mel Gibson used his fortune of 40 million dollars to shoot his first Bible movie here. His profit is estimated at about 400 million. "A miracle?" we ask Geo Coretti. Smiling, he sends us to another small village, a thousand kilometers away, to find out more.
Written and directed by
NORBERT BUSÈ
Commissioning Editor at SRF
CHRISTIAN WALTHER
Commissioning Editor at ZDF/arte
SABINE BUBECK-PAAZ
Swiss production by
CORINNA DÄSTNER
DODO HUNZIKER
German production by
NORBERT BUSÈ
Produced by DokLab GmbH Bern & Studio.TV.Film in coproduction with SRF and ZDF/arte
Development funded by Swiss Broadcasting Coorporation SRG, Swiss Radio and Television SRF (Succès Passage Antenne), ZDF & Ernst Göhner Foundation