A Pilgrimage of Faith and Film:
Fuller Seminary to Host Academy Award Winning Director Martin Scorsese for Private Screening and Discussion of Silence
PASADENA, Calif., January 6, 2017—Fuller Seminary is excited to announce that it will host a private screening of the film Silence followed by a discussion with its director, Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese. The screening and interview with Scorsese will occur January 7 by invitation only, coordinated through Reel Spirituality, an initiative of the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts at Fuller Seminary.
Scorsese chose Fuller for the screening due to his expressed interest in pursuing the theological conversations evident within Silence and in those that have permeated his career, and Fuller’s community represents the prime audience to engage this topic. Throughout his career, Scorsese has been interested in the nexus of theology and film where his films have functioned as quasi-autobiography of his religious convictions and struggles. Prior to pursuing a career in film, Scorsese attended a year of seminary in pursuit of priesthood. In addition, Scorsese commissioned Makoto Fujimura, world-renowned artist, speaker, writer and director of Fuller’s Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, as a consultant for the film. “It has been an honor to advise Mr. Scorsese on this film Silence as a special advisor,” said Fujimura. “This film truly honors Endo, and the martyrs of the Japanese past; it is a profound gift given to the generations to come.”
Fujimura released Silence and Beauty, a theological companion to the novel, in May 2016, and he functioned as a theological and cultural advisor to Scorsese throughout the filming process. “Makoto Fujimura is a remarkable artist and writer and his engagement with the writings of the great Shusaku Endo—and Silence in particular—is deep and impassioned, as you will discover on every page of this book,” said Scorsese. “By way of response to a great artist, Fujimura has created a quietly eloquent meditation on art and faith, and where they converge.”
Kutter Callaway, assistant professor of theology and culture at Fuller, will moderate the discussion with Scorsese and Fujimura. Callaway is one of the premiere voices within media and academia on theology and culture. He has lent his cultural and theological expertise to numerous projects such as Morgan Freeman’s series The Story of God.
The discussion with Scorsese, Fujimura, and Callaway will be recorded and produced by FULLER studio. FULLER studio is one of Fuller’s most innovative ventures of the 21st century, leveraging its global brand as a deeply theological, interdenominational thought leader to extend its reach beyond graduate education to more fully serve the needs of a world in deep pursuit of God, faith, and spirituality. FULLER studio debuted in April 2016 and featured a conversation between Bono of U2 and Eugene Peterson titled “Bono and Eugene Peterson: The Psalms,” which has amassed over half a million views across 196 countries to date.
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About Fuller
Fuller Seminary, the largest multidenominational seminary in the world, provides professional, graduate-level education through its schools of theology, psychology, and intercultural studies. Through its main campus near Old Town Pasadena, California and several regional campuses and online programs, Fuller serves approximately 4,000 students from 90 countries and 110 denominations, offering five programs fully in the Korean language and four in Spanish. The seminary’s 43,000 living alumni, the largest alumni base of any seminary, serve throughout the world as ministers, nonprofit organization and corporate leaders, therapists, counselors, teachers, and in many other vocations of service and leadership. For more information: www.fuller.edu
