Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List

Michael Ward, PhD 2006; David Paul Baird, 2019

In 1995 - one hundred years after the birth of cinema in Paris - a Vatican-appointed commission compiled a list of forty-five significant films. The entries vary widely, ranging from lighthearted favourites like The Wizard of Oz to challenging arthouse features such as The Seventh Seal.

It includes silent movies, early talkies, and titles that represent major developments in the techniques of cinema, such as animation. This list, released under Pope John Paul II, the former poet and playwright, was an important milestone in the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the wider culture. Yet for many students of cinema, it remains undiscovered or unclear. What was the list for? And why did the commission choose these particular titles?

In this groundbreaking study, David Paul Baird, Andrew Petiprin and Michael Ward walk readers through the entire Vatican List film by film. The authors show that its aim was not to serve as a "best ever" register nor as an anthology of approved works; rather, it was to guide people in an appreciation of cinema as an artistic language and as a bearer of political, spiritual and moral messages.

In addition to theologically and historically informed commentary each chapter includes film stills, quotations, and questions for further reflection.

ISBN: 978-1-68578-984-8