{"id":135051,"date":"2025-11-15T17:25:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T17:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/135051\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T17:25:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T17:25:06","slug":"hollywood-to-the-vatican-cate-blanchett-spike-lee-meet-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/135051\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood to the Vatican: Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee meet Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking with Vatican News, Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, Leslie Mann, and Kenneth Lonergan share their responses to Pope Leo\u2019s call to use their roles in the world of cinema to help others \u201crediscover a portion of the hope that is essential for humanity to live to the fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Kielce Gussie<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the story\u2026\u201d is often what you hear from storytellers explaining their work. And in a room full of creative artists and cinematographers, there is always a story to tell. After listening to Pope Leo\u2019s address on the beauty and importance of films and responsibility of those in involved in the world of cinema, internationally known actors and filmmakers filled the halls of the Apostolic Palace each recounting stories of their own papal encounter.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the community <\/p>\n

With the ever-growing presence of streaming apps, cinema attendance around the world fell by 8.8% in 2024\u2014selling 500 million less than in 2023. Pope Leo noted the danger of this decline as “cinemas and theaters are the beating hearts of our communities”. He\u00a0also affirmed their cultural and societal value and the importance of safeguarding them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

American actress Leslie Mann\u00a0has taken this challenge to heart. She said that as an actress, she is trying to get people back to watching films in theaters and cinemas, \u201cto experience movies together instead of at home” on the couch.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Pope:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Pope Leo XIV welcomes actors, filmmakers, directors, and scriptwriters for an audience in the Vatican, and challenges them to be \u201cwitnesses of hope, beauty and truth\u201d in our world …\n <\/p>\n

Mann is choosing to follow the Pope\u2019s call to look to the future with a sense of optimism: \u201cWe\u2019re very hopeful and very excited for the future of cinema\u201d, she explained. Even though the Pope\u2019s words were in Italian, Mann shared with Vatican News how incredibly impactful the audience was. \u201cIt was incredible\u201d, noting she will go home and read through the English translation.<\/p>\n

Church and cinema <\/p>\n

This sentiment of hope continued with Kenneth Lonergan, an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. He pointed out that, even though he\u2019s not Christian, Catholic, or religious, the Catholic Church has \u201cbeen one of the great promoters of art for many hundreds of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Listen to Kenneth Lonergan speak about the connection between the Church and cinema\n <\/p>\n

Lonergan praised Pope Leo\u2019s interest in bringing cinema into that tradition of art. He argued a world without art, film, paintings, music \u201cwould be a pretty sorry world\u201d. In today’s world full of conflicts and social tensions, art\u2014cinema in particular\u2014can be an avenue of hope. \u201cAs soon as people have a chance to be hopeful,\u201d Lonergan noted, \u201cthey grab it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recognized that “it is a great privilege” to be involved in the making and behind-the-scenes of films, which can be testimonies of beauty, truth, and hope to people seeking both entertainment and meaning.<\/p>\n

Never too far from home <\/p>\n

At the end of the Pope\u2019s address, the various artists were able to individually greet him, and if they wanted, give the Holy Father a gift.<\/p>\n

One special present had hidden roots in Pope Leo\u2019s university days in the United States. American filmmaker Spike Lee, based in Brooklyn, New York, greeted him with a personalized New York Knicks basketball jersey. \u201cHere\u2019s the story,\u201d Lee began, \u201cThe Pope went to Villanova\u2026and the Knicks had three players from Villanova.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Spike<\/p>\n

\n Spike Lee gifted the Pope a personalized basketball jersey \u00a0 (@Vatican Media)\n <\/p>\n

The city edition jersey has Pope Leo and the number 14 written on it\u2014as a reminder of his connection to his alma mater.<\/p>\n

Cinema gives voice to voiceless <\/p>\n

Australian actor and film producer Cate Blanchett also used the opportunity to gift the Pope with a small blue bracelet with a beautiful significance behind it. \u201cI work with UNHCR, the UN refugee agency,\u201d Blanchett explained, and the bracelet is one that she \u201cwears in solidarity with people who are displaced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Blanchett launched the Displacement Film Fund as a UNHCR Goodwill ambassador. The initiative is dedicated to championing and funding \u201cthe work of displaced filmmakers, or filmmakers with a proven track record in creating authentic storytelling on the experiences of displaced people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together with the director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Vanja Kaludjercic, Blanchett noted that the voices of these refugee filmmakers \u201coften get marginalized from the mainstream.\u201d So both Blanchett and Kaludjercic stressed the importance of sharing the work of this Fund with the Holy Father.<\/p>\n

\n Cate Blanchett and Vanja Kaludjercic speak about the importance of giving a voice to the voiceless\n <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is of tremendous importance that His Holiness is opening up this space for dialogue and pointing out how important it is to create space for stories of those who often get unheard and people who do not have so much opportunity, like the displaced filmmakers\u201d, Kaludjercic stressed. This, she argued, reveals shared values between the Displacement Film Fund and the Vatican\u2014as they promote basic human rights and the dignity of each person.<\/p>\n

Forced displacement is an important humanitarian issue facing our world today. UNHCR reported that as of the end of June 2025, some 117 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or \u201cevents seriously disturbing public order.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a crisis we cannot and must not avoid. This morning, Pope Leo stressed that those involved in the world of cinema must not be afraid to \u201cconfront the world\u2019s wounds. Violence, poverty, exile, loneliness, addiction and forgotten wars are issues that need to be acknowledged and narrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanchett left the Pope\u2019s speech with this message firmly in mind.\u00a0\u201cHe was talking about tears that often people are unable to shed in their daily life, which often happens in the cinema.\u201d She felt the Holy Father\u2019s call to return to \u201cour day jobs and inspire and create those spaces\u201d of dialogue, which can begin through stories of hope found in the cinema.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking with Vatican News, Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, Leslie Mann, and Kenneth Lonergan share their responses to Pope…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[787,40489,146,85,46,6386,14655],"class_list":["post-135051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-art","tag-cinema","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-migrants-and-refugees","tag-pope-leo-xiv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}