International Institute for Culture

 
 



Catholics and Hollywood

A Filmmakers Response
to John Paul II's Letter to Artists

Date: September 22nd, 2002
 
Time:
 
11:00 a.m. Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church
12:00 noon. Brunch at Ivy Hall
1:00 p.m. Lecture
 
Speaker: Mrs. Barbara Nicolosi, Director of Act One: Writing for Hollywood
Topic: A Film makers Response to John Paul II's Letter to Artists
Costs: Brunch and Lecture: $20 (Couples $35) Lectures alone: $10
 
Free for students and religious.
 
 
Join us later this evening at 7 pm for a panel discussion with Barbara Nicolosi, Christine O'Donnell, Dr. John M. Haas, and Mark Bonocore and the role of TV and Film makers in today's world.
 
Link to JP II's Apostolic Letters
Link to John Paul II’s Letter to Artists

Barbara Nicolosi

Barbara Nicolosi, the Director of ACT One, has an MA in Film from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She has been a director of development, a reader for the Humanitas Prize, and a consultant on many film and television projects. Her feature screenplay, Select Society, is being developed by Reel Life Women Productions, Bel Air. She writes a media column for Ligourian magazine, is on the executive committee of the City of the Angels Film Festival, the board of CIMA and frequently addresses writer's conferences on screenwriting and the arts.
 
Barbara notes that the goal of the ACT ONE is not to produce religious screenplays, but rather screenplays that will reflect a Christian world-view. All truth is God’s truth, Nicolosi comments, it's just a matter of giving the truth a compelling platform through cinema so that God can reach through and touch human lives. As a Church, we have allowed ourselves to be defined in the popular culture by mostly non-believers. It’s not Hollywood's fault if we don't see our values reflected there. Once called "the patron of the arts," the Church has too often in recent years been the prey of the arts. This has had dire consequences for the whole popular culture. Up till now, the Christian community has responded to Hollywood with mostly ineffectual boycotting and protesting. Act One represents an offensive strategy in the culture wars. The goal of Act One is to prepare Christian writers who can compete professionally and artistically in the demanding field of screen writing.
 
see www.actoneprogram.com for more information.
 
John Paul II addressed his Letter to Artists in 1999 to "all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new "epiphanies" of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world." This lecture will elucidate the themes of the letter and offer personal commentary from a screenwriter's perspective.
 
Letter available at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_23041999_artists_en.html
 
Lessons on Hollywood (MS Word Format) - Insightful relfections on the Hollywood industry.
Why There Isn't a Catholic Cinema And What Can Happy Catholics Contribute to the Entertainment Industry? (MS Word Format)
 

Barbara Nicolosi's List of Most Influential Films

  • 400 Blows
  • 8 ½
  • A Man Condemned to Death
  • A Nous La Liberte
  • African Queen, The
  • Alexander Nevsky
  • Andrei Rublev
  • Annie Hall
  • Ashes & Diamonds
  • Atlantic City
  • Au Revoir les Enfants
  • Babette's Feast
  • Badlands
  • Bank Dick, The
  • Battle of Algiers, The
  • Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau)
  • Being There
  • Bicycle Thief, The
  • Bonnie and Clyde
  • Boudu Saved from Drowning
  • Breathless
  • Casablanca
  • Chariots of Fire
  • Children of Paradise, The
  • Chinatown
  • Citizen Kane
  • City Lights
  • Como Aqua Para Chocolate
  • Crimes & Misdemeanors
  • Decalogue, The
  • Distant Voices, Still Lives
  • Down By Law
  • Dr. Strangelove
  • Elephant Man, The
  • Escapes
  • Faces
  • Fireman's Ball
  • Five Easy Pieces
  • General, The
  • Godfather I and II, The
  • Gold Rush, The
  • Gospel According to Matthew
  • Graduate, The
  • Great Dictator, The
  • Great McGinty, The
  • Hail the Conquering Hero
  • Hester Street
  • Ikiru
  • Il Vitteloni
  • Intolerance
  • It Happened One Night
  • It's a Gift
  • Jour De Fete
  • Kind Hearts and Coronets
  • L'Atlante
  • La Dolce Vita
  • La Guerre est Finie
  • Ladykillers, The
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Le Million
  • Local Hero
  • Loves of a Blonde
  • "M"
  • Maltese Falcon, The
  • Manchurian Candidate, The
  • Matrix, The
  • Melvin and Howard
  • Metropolis
  • Miracle in Milan
  • Modern Times
  • Monkey Business
  • My Left Foot
  • My Life as a Dog
  • Nashville
  • Navigator, The
  • Network
  • Ninotchka
  • Nosferatu
  • Odd Couple, The
  • On The Waterfront
  • Open City
  • Passion of Joan of Arc
  • Raging Bull
  • Rashomon
  • Rear Window
  • Red
  • Rules of the Game, The
  • Shoot the Piano Player
  • Sullivan's Travels
  • Tender Mercies
  • Third Man, The
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Tree of the Wood Clogs
  • True Confessions
  • Unforgiven
  • Vertigo
  • Wild Strawberries
  • Wings of Desire
  • Wizard of Oz, The
  • Zero for Conduct


WHERE:

Ivy Hall, 6331 Lancaster Ave., Philadelphia 19151 [click here for directions]
 

Latin Lives at Ivy Hall
Click to Inquire

The IIC offers Latin classes throughout the year in the evening on Wednesdays, as well as full-time summer intensive courses. For more information, click here to contact the Institute.



Sunday, April 21
A Musical Afternoon with Larissa Fedoryka: Martha Haas Memorial Program

 
Saturday, April 27
Beauteous Truth: Faith, Reason, Literature and Culture with Joseph Pearce

 
Saturday, May 4
Chopin Journey

 



 

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