UNITED STATES
Deadline
By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday, 19 November 2012
Alex Gibney won an Oscar for his 2007 documentary Taxi To The Dark Side about U.S. policy on torture and interrogation. He was also nominated for 2005’s Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room. His latest film, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, taps into a subject that has, in various forms, increasingly made headlines this year. As allegations of the sexual abuse of minors by trusted figures have continued to surface – think: the Penn State scandal and the ongoing crisis over BBC kids’ show host Jimmy Savile – Gibney’s film is a damning investigation into pedophilia in the Catholic Church. Shining a light on what it calls “an international conspiracy of silence” that reaches all the way to the Vatican, the documentary “teaches us that we must recognize that the worst predators often consciously use their own personal charisma and the prestige of their institutions to commit and cover up their crimes,” Gibney says.
At the outset, the story is told from the point of view of four deaf men who attended a Milwaukee Catholic boys school in the 50s and 60s where Father Lawrence Murphy abused them as well as what is believed to be over 200 others over time. Interweaving the boys’ saga, which the now-adult men recount in sign language voiced over by actors Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Jamey Sheridan and John Slattery, the story travels to two of the world’s most Catholic countries: Ireland and Italy. There, stories of similar sex abuse cases are revealed as well as the actions of members and friends of the Holy See. Mea Maxima Culpa debuted in Toronto and won the documentary feature prize at the recent London Film Festival. It was released in NY and LA on Friday for its Oscar-qualifying run and will air on HBO on February 4. It was also, surprisingly given the subject matter, picked up for distribution in both Ireland (Element Pictures) and Italy (Feltrinelli), although it was refused by recent Italian festivals. I recently had the chance to catch up with Gibney and our coversation follows:
DEADLINE: How will the film be released in Italy?
ALEX GIBNEY: Feltrinelli is a classic publisher. They will release it theatrically first and then as a DVD in bookstores. They really wanted to take this on after they saw it and liked it. They’re courageous and tough and imaginative. They may also do a simultaneous stunt release by beaming it out across Italy with Q & A sessions.
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