NEWS from BATH FILM FESTIVAL

Scorsese promises virtual visit to Wells as cathedral prepares for 25th anniversary screening of his ‘Last Temptation’ film

Diary date: Saturday 25 January (7.30pm start) Members of the original production team re-unite for a 25th anniversary screening of the Martin Scorsese film which sparked widespread protests by religious groups and whose score, by Peter Gabriel, is credited with helping to popularise ‘world music’. Wells Cathedral, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2UE

Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese will make a virtual visit to Wells Cathedral on Saturday 25 January to introduce a 25th anniversary screening of his highly-acclaimed yet still controversial film THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST which stars Willem Dafoe, Barbara Hershey and Harvey Keitel and features a landmark soundtrack by Peter Gabriel .

The screening is being arranged by Bath Film Festival as a companion event to its recent showing of the silent film THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC in another of the West Country’s most magnificent places of worship: Bath Abbey.

Festival director Philip Raby says: “The thread linking both events is that they are a chance for audiences to see very powerful stories in settings that add enormously to what is on the screen. In the case of the Joan of Arc film, Bath Abbey offered a wonderful sense of history. With the Scorsese film, Wells Cathedral will provide an awe-inspiring reminder of where Christ’s choices and struggles led. Each also presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This will never happen again”.

Director Martin Scorsese will give a video link introduction to the screening which is happening almost 25 years to the day of his film’s UK premiere in January 1989.

In addition, Martin Scorsese’s long-time collaborator, the triple Oscar-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, is flying in from New York where she and Scorsese have just finished work on their latest film, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, to attend the screening and take part in a pre-film discussion that is being arranged by the cathedral’s Dean and Chapter.

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST is based on the 1953 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, who also wrote ZORBA THE GREEK. Scorsese bought the film rights in the late 1970s soon after being given a copy by Barbara Hershey (who plays Mary Magdalene in the film) but then spent a decade struggling to find production backers because of the controversial nature of the final section in which Satan tempts Jesus (Willem Dafoe) to abandon his calling by conjuring up a vision of what life would be like as a happily married and good family man.

On release, fears of a backlash proved well-founded. Often without ever viewing the film, religious zealots in the USA and elsewhere led protests against it, prompting some cinema chains to refuse to show it, fire-bombings of two cinemas in France, and to screening bans or heavy censorship in several countries, including Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, the Philippines, Singapore and Turkey.

But, says Philip Raby: “What the protesters overlook is that Scorsese was raised in a devoutly Catholic family, talked seriously at school about becoming a priest and thinks deeply about matters of faith and morality. In this film, he wrestles with a question that is in no way blasphemous - did Jesus have to experience the hopes, pleasures, fears and doubts of humanity to add divine meaning to his choice of sacrifice for humanity’s sake?”

As well as winning many awards and prize nominations for Scorsese, his production team and actors, the film’s score also earned numerous accolades for its composer Peter Gabriel, including Grammy and Golden Globe nominations. His resulting album – Passion – is widely credited as a landmark release in the popularising of ‘world music’.

To ensure perfect sound quality at the Wells Cathedral screening every member of the audience will hear the soundtrack via headphones. By coincidence, the Wells Cathedral School Choir is among the score’s global cast of performers, with others including Baaba Maal, Shankar, Youssou N’Dour and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Tickets for THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST in Wells Cathedral are £15/£12, bookable now via www.bathfilmfestival.org.uk or from the Wells Film Centre, Princes Rd, Wells, Somerset BA5 1TD 01749 673195

Bath Film Festival is grateful to Universal Studios for granting permission to screen the film, to the Dean and Chapter of Wells Cathedral for logistical advice and support and to Bath Spa University and the IMDb for financial help..

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Media enquiries For more info, images, logos, interviews, etc, please contact: Pam Beddard, Festival Publicist - 0117 987 0442/ 07767 621207; [email protected] or Holly Tarquini, Festival Producer - 01225 463 458/ 07976 601 935; [email protected]

Notes to Editors

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST first came out in the UK in January 1989. It was the 22nd film to be directed by Martin Scorsese in a directing career which began while he was still in college in 1959 and which will shortly result in the release of his latest movie, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, starring Leonardo di Caprio. Click here to view the official trailer; here for more information on how the film came to be made, reactions, its cast and awards or for details of Martin Scorsese life, work and honours, please see his IMDb entry.

WELLS CATHEDRAL dates from 1175 but its site has been used for Christian worship since at least 705 AD. It is widely agreed to be one of England’s top 10 cathedrals, for its beauty, setting and architectural interest. The west front contains the largest collection of mediaeval sculpture in England. For more information, please see: http://www.wellscathedral.org.uk/