New film from the Augustine Institute, Digital Continent aims to help viewers get to know the Church's first millennial saint
MILAN (CNA) — On April 2, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its “Based on a True Saint” series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, “The Boy from Milan,” focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis.
The film aims to help viewers get to know the Church’s first millennial saint better and show how an ordinary teenager with a deep love for God and other people can became a saint.
The documentary includes interviews with three individuals who knew Acutis personally: his mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis; his high school religion teacher at Leone XIII Institute in Milan, Fabrizio Zaggia; and Dr. Mercedes Arguello, Acutis’ pediatric oncologist at San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.
Emily Mentock, executive producer of “The Boy from Milan” and co-founder of Digital Continent — the production company that worked in partnership with the Augustine Institute — spoke to CNA about the inspiration behind the film and why she believes Acutis is resonating with so many people around the world.
She explained that Acutis was the inspiration behind the “Based on a True Saint” series in the first place. The first documentary in the series was about Blessed Solanus Casey. In each film in the series, the goal is to answer the question “Is holiness possible today?”
“I was thinking of Carlo and the way he is presented to the world when we came up with the idea for the series as a whole because I just kept hearing how I should care about the saint because he’s a millennial like me and played video games, but that doesn’t tell me anything about the path to holiness,” said Mentock, who co-founded Digital Continent along with Edmundo Reyes. “So, I was really just grateful for the opportunity to dive deeper into his story and hear from people who really knew him, not just about him, what he was really like on a daily basis.”
Mentock said she believes Acutis’ popularity stems from the fact that “he’s relevant, he lived in our time,” and this gives people “hope for believing that we can also maybe achieve holiness.”
“Sometimes you look around at our world today and wonder, is this [holiness] really possible? And Carlo shows us that it is, absolutely,” she added.
While filming and getting to know Acutis better, Mentock came to admire his love for life and how “he looked at life as his field to put into practice the teachings of Jesus.”
She also pointed out how all of the individuals shown in the film were greatly impacted by knowing Acutis personally, especially Arguello, his pediatric oncologist, who found strength in Acutis’ testimony when she herself received a cancer diagnosis.
“It never ceases to amaze me that it was so evident how they were living differently and in a different relationship with God because of how Carlo had helped them turn toward God,” she said.
Mentock said she hopes the film will leave viewers inspired by Acutis’ “daily holiness.”
“I think that Carlo can inspire anyone, but I do think that he especially is a gift for young, young people today to look around and say, it doesn’t matter if you’re 10 years old, 12 years old, 14 years old — you can go out and make a difference, live your life boldly for the Lord, and Carlo’s a great example for that,” she said.
EWTN has also released a documentary on Acutis titled “I Am With You,” which can be seen on EWTN On Demand.
