Sonovision video screengrab / YouTube
CV NEWS FEED // A documentary striving to answer the question of what the face of Jesus looked like will be in select US theaters exclusively on June 3.
Jaroslaw Redziak, director and producer of “The Face of Jesus,” said in an emailed news release from Fathom Entertainment that there is “endless fascination with who God is, what he looked like and if it’s possible that he has left us an image of himself.”
“We set out to examine three of the most popular images that reveal the face of God — two divine images not made by human hands — the famous Shroud of Turin and the Veil of Manoppello,” he said. “We also weave in the third image of Jesus made by human hands, the divinely inspired image known as the Vilnius image of the Divine Mercy.”
The first image, the Shroud of Turin, is an ancient linen cloth popularly believed to have been used for Jesus’ burial. It bears the image of a man, but little is known about how the image appeared on the cloth. It, along with the Veil of Manoppello, has been subjected to in-depth research, according to the release.
The Veil of Manoppello was discovered in the early 1900s, and, according to experts, it bears an image of the same face depicted on the Shroud of Turin. According to the National Centre for Padre Pio, the veil is not Veronica’s veil, but rather believed to be one that was laid over Jesus’ face when he was buried. Pope Benedict XVI brought attention to it by visiting the Italian town of Manoppello in 2005.
Finally, the divinely inspired image of Divine Mercy, painted by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski at the direction of St. Faustina Kowalska and Blessed Michael Sopocko, also resembles the other two images. According to the release, several experts from around the world will explain and connect the images of Jesus to reveal whether Christians can see the face of God.
Konrad Sosnowski, president of Sonovision, one of the organizations partnering on the film’s distribution, stated in the release that “The compelling hypotheses, observations and even miracles connected to these images, will lead audiences to ponder the reality of the seen and unseen.”
On June 3, the film will also be followed by a short bonus documentary of US clergy who will share more insights and context.
Tickets are available online or at the selected theaters’ box offices.
