«Le Nouvel Evangile»: dignity beneath revolt9 reading minutes

Matera, Italy. The demonstration "La Rivolta della Dignita" at Matera. In the center is Yvan Sagnet, human rights activist, who also plays Jesus in the Milo Rau movie. About the film project: In Matera, in southern Italy, where the great Jesus films from Pasolini to Gibson were shot, the director Milo Rau is staging a modern Passion of the Christ: “The New Gospel“. What would Jesus preach today? Who would his disciples be? Led by political activist Yvan Sagnet, a new Jesus movement is fighting for the rights of migrants who came to Europe across the Mediterranean to be enslaved on the tomato fields in southern Italy and to live in ghettos under inhumane conditions. Rau and his team return to the origins of the gospel and stage it as a passion play of an entire civilization. An authentically political as well as cinematic “New Gospel” emerges for the 21st century. A manifesto of solidarity with the poorest, a revolt for a more just, humane world.