Indian priest’s short film to be screened at Global Taj International Film Festival 

An Indian Catholic priest’s short film has been selected for screening at the Global Taj International Film Festival (GTIFF) in Agra, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

"It is my extreme honor to inform you that our film ‘Carlo’ has been selected for GTIFF at Agra," Father Leslie Bosco Rego of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, western India, told RVA News. 

It will be screened on November 12 at the film festival.

"We do appreciate the efforts put in by several people behind the screen and would like to thank them immensely. The tireless sacrifice put in by the entire team deserves a mention. May God bless them all," Father Rego said.

"I feel proud that our efforts have been rewarded," he added.

He is the producer and director of the short film "Carlo" (a Konkani film), which has subtitles in English.

The movie is about Blessed Carlo Acutis, an English-born Italian Catholic adolescent and amateur computer programmer best known for documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world and cataloging them on a website he created before succumbing to leukemia.

He was born in London, United Kingdom, on May 3, 1991, and died on October 12, 2006, in Monza, Italy.  

He was beatified on October 10, 2020. He is the patron of youth and computer programmers.

"The film's production began two years ago. The progress of it went a bit slowly at the start, but then recently we sped up," Father Rego said.

The film was made as a proclamation of faith, especially for today's youth, on how to use modern gadgets without becoming obsessed with them, he said. "Carlo is a perfect role model for children and youth. At the time, he was demonstrating how to use the internet and modern gadgets wisely."

Father Rego is also a part of CCR TV, a Catholic TV channel reaching out to viewers worldwide. The content is in Konkani, English, Marathi and Hindi.

He also worked at MANA TV, an ICT-based learning resource accessible even to students in remote and rural areas.

Over 100 entries were submitted from 10 countries for the GTIFF 2022, but 30 films were selected from India, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Denmark, and Egypt. As many as 21 films are selected from India.

Most of the entries are in Hindi; the rest are in English, Telugu, and Arabic.

The fourth edition of GTIFF 2022 would run for a month.

The GTIFF is a unique initiative aimed at connecting filmmakers under one umbrella. It gives filmmakers enough space to understand the world's best cinema.

The international film festival features good and previously unseen stories, innovations that broke stereotypes, and dark patterns in cinema and an increasing number of filmmakers are experimenting with form and content, making their craft a little more accessible, according to a press statement from the organizers.

The GTIFF is a platform for filmmakers to showcase their cinema in front of a film-loving audience. At the same time, it allows the audience to watch many wonderful and meaningful films around the world.

The festival would also highlight good stories through meaningful cinema for the understanding of different cultures, besides having cinema talk sessions, workshops, master classes, entertainment, media interactions, networking, a red carpet walk, appreciation, and awards.

In the end, several awards will be given away for the international, feature film category, the Indian feature film category, the short film category, the documentary category, and the music video category.

Father Rego studied at the Stenodac Academy of Professional Photography. He also obtained a Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, central India.

Earlier, he had come out with other films like "Journey of Faith," "Way of the Cross," "Treasure Shattered," and "Come to Me." All these movies are in Konkani, except for "Treasure Shattered."

Currently, he is the parish priest at St. Joseph’s Church, Shiroda, Goa, western India, under the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman.