Martin Scorsese’s New Documentary Will Feature One of Pope Francis’ Final Interviews The film focuses on a project founded by the pope that encourages small communities around the world to tell their stories through cinema Pope Francis meets with Martin Scorsese on January 31, 2024 in Vatican City. Vatican Media via Vatican Pool / Getty Images Filmmaker Martin Scorsese will produce a new documentary featuring the last video interview of Pope Francis, recorded just months before his death on April 21 at age 88. Titled Aldeas — A New Story, the documentary chronicles the Aldeas cinema initiative, which enables small communities around the world to tell their own stories through cinema. The project is the work of Scholas Occurrentes, an education movement founded by the pope. “What happens when you hand a camera to a community and ask them 'Who are you?’” Aldeas says on its website. “Every reality, even the smallest, is a world in itself and reveals the broader human experience.” Pope Francis on set for the filming of the documentary in December 2024 Aldeas Scholas Films So far, groups from Indonesia, the Gambia and Italy have signed on to the project, which has no set release date. Once these local stories from across the globe are written, filmed and produced, they will be interspersed in the documentary with footage from Scorsese’s December 2024 interview with Francis in the Vatican, according to the New York Times’ Derrick Bryson Taylor. “It was important to Pope Francis for people across the globe to exchange ideas with respect while also preserving their cultural identity, and cinema is the best medium to do that,” Scorsese says in a statement, according to Variety’s Jazz Tangcay. On a visit to Jakarta last year, Francis met with participants of the film project. Before his death, he called Aldeas “an extremely poetic and very constructive project because it goes to the roots of what human life is, human sociability, human conflicts … the essence of a life’s journey,” per Variety.The Catholic faith has played a significant role in Scorsese’s life. Growing up in New York City, he attended a preparatory seminary with plans to become a priest but failed out after the first year. After “dabbling here and there” with other religions for years, he admitted in a 2017 interview with La Civiltà Cattolica’s Antonio Spadaro that he was still “most comfortable as a Catholic.” Scorsese’s films have long explored themes involving faith, but not without significant controversy. Religious groups vigorously protested his 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ, which emphasized the human side of Jesus, including a scene where he consummates his marriage with Mary Magdalene. One extremist group that considered it blasphemous even set fire to a Paris cinema while the film was showing. Martin Scorsese and Pope Francis during the filming of the interview in December 2024 Aldeas Scholas Films Scorsese’s relationship with the organized church has significantly improved since then, although he’s never shied away from making films about faith in all its difficulties. In 2016, Scorsese met with Francis to discuss his film Silence, the story of Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan. They met again in 2023 shortly before Scorsese announced that he would make another film about Jesus. “[Francis] knew in his soul that ignorance was a terrible plague on humanity. So he never stopped learning,” Scorsese said in a statement shared with Variety’s Ellise Shafer following his death. “The loss for me runs deep—I was lucky enough to know him, and I will miss his presence and his warmth. The loss for the world is immense. But he left a light behind, and it can never be extinguished.” With a recent project focusing on the lives of eight Catholic saints, as well as his commitment to the Aldeas documentary, Scorsese continues to examine his faith. The short films featured in his upcoming documentary will premiere in newly established local cinemas, “serving as lasting hubs for cultural expression and education,” per Variety. “Pope Francis’ vision gave life to a dream: the dream of uniting villages from different corners of the world and, through cinema, rediscovering the beauty of creation,” Aldeas Scholas Films said in a statement posted to social media after his death. “Rather than saying farewell, we honor his life through action, as we embrace the mission of continuing to tell the stories he dreamed of seeing flourish.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.