While the proudly Filipino-made film Ignacio de Loyola produced by Jesuit Communications Philippines is
still set to hit local theaters on July 27, it has already received favorable
feedback internationally after it was screened in the Vatican last June 14,
reportedly with the help of Catholic leader Pope Francis who is also a Jesuit
priest himself.
In a press conference for the movie which tells the story of the Society of Jesus founder St. Ignatius, the team behind the Ignacio de Loyola was asked if they plan to submit this film to international film festivals.
“We need to pay our debts first. Some festivals require that your film has not been shown commercially yet. We cannot afford that,” producer Fr. Emmanuel Alfonso said, admitting that they need to “recover the cost first.”
Nonetheless, he said that this movie will tour internationally, “We need to do the regular theatrical run here and we plan to tour this internationally. We’re working with some international distributors.”
Saying that they are very proud of this project, Fr. Alfonso added that they also intend to bring this movie to Jesuit schools all over the world.
“This film, through the Jesuit network, we’re scheduling
tours of Jesuit schools all over the world. So this will certainly be seen.
This will be seen by universities all over the globe and there are many Jesuit
universities and schools… So in a way, we’re able to achieve what these
international festivals do for Filipino films, to be seen. And that’s the
purpose of this project, it’s part of our evangelization to spread the word of
God through this,” he said.
Main photo screengrab from the Film Trailer