Rome - A biopic on Pope Francis is heading to screens in some 40 countries, the Italian producers of Call me Francis - the People's Pope said at its advance press screening on Thursday.
The international debut of the movie - which will air in Italian cinemas on December 3 - is planned for around March 13, which will be the third anniversary of Francis' election to the papacy, a spokeswoman for the film told dpa.
She said there were “advanced negotiations” with distributors in most of Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia.
Argentinian actor Rodrigo de la Serna - known to international audiences for his role as Che Guevara's sidekick in 2004's The Motorcycle Diaries - plays the lead role in the film, which focuses on Jorge Mario Bergoglio's pre-papal career.
The movie depicts Bergoglio as a progressive local Jesuit leader firmly at odds with the military junta that ruled his home country of Argentina from 1976 to 1983 - a controversial assertion that is disputed by some.
Italian director Daniele Luchetti, who travelled to Buenos Aires to research the movie, said in a press conference that he ignored the voices “of those who came up to me several times to tell me 'Bergoglio was implicated with the dictatorship.'“
Produced by Medusa Film, part of the media empire of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, the 98-minute movie is also going to be released into the longer format of a TV series with four episodes running 50 minutes each.
Two days ahead of its Italian release, a special screening for 7,000 people is scheduled at the Vatican. Medusa Film Chairman Giampaolo Letta said he did not know whether Francis himself was planning to attend.
But, he added that one of the pope's closest aides - Argentinian Monsignor Guillermo Karcher - had seen the work and had judged it “truthful.”
DPA