In the summer of ’22, I was lucky enough to cut a feature doc, directed by BAFTA winner Nicolas Brown, which focussed on Pope Francis’s efforts to make us all aware of the destructive nature of climate change, a project that started with a small book he published in 2015 entitled Laudato Si. The subsequent feature, The Letter: A Message for our Earth was a very ambitious film featuring a small, diverse group of people who each represented an aspect of humanity affected by the havoc our industrial actions have been causing the climate for decades. The four aspects were the youth, the poor, the indigenous and the natural world. The end result was a very emotional and affecting film. It certainly didn’t hurt that it guest-starred Pope Francis. The Vatican and its associates were pleased with it and with Leonardo DiCaprio giving us a Twitter mention (cheers, Leo), the viewing figures on line were an accurate gauge of the numbers who watched it. It has been broadcast on conventional TV stations but the most surprising event was still to come.

World Youth Day, held in Lisbon in 2023, took place from 1st to 5th August – yes, you’d think they could add an ‘s’ on ‘Day’. On Saturday 5th, with the Pope in attendance (again, can’t hurt), the film was played at the Field of Grace, while celebrating a vigil. It’s been reported that 1.5 million people watched a screening of The Letter, the largest ever single audience for a single film showing. There’s a report of this extraordinary event here. As that report comes from the Laudato Si movement itself, perhaps the tiniest pinch of salt is necessary. I mean, what are the chances of 1.5 million youths watching a big screen for eighty minutes without periodically scanning their smart phones? I’ve sat next to young people at the theatre paying through several noses to occupy their seat and where’s their own nose? Attached to their phone. Generations change, strange is normalised. Given the vast audience’s full attention or not, to have one’s work have that level of reach is enormously gratifying.