Roland Joffé and St Josemaria Escriva

Roland Joffé, scriptwriter, director and producer of movies.

Roland Joffé is the scriptwriter, director and co-producer of the forthcoming film There be dragons, which features St Josemaria, founder of Opus Dei, as one of the main characters.

Born in Kensington, London, on November 17, 1945, Joffé has directed many films including The Mission (1984), The Killing Fields (1986) and City of Joy (1992). The following are some of things Joffé said about St Josemaria, which have been published in various press articles around the world over the past months.

Reuters (UK), 4.11.2009: “One of the things that impressed me a lot about Josemaria was the fact that he saw that saintliness didn’t require that you withdraw into a religious order, it didn’t require that you become a priest. But actually saintliness, saintly acts, could be performed by perfectly ordinary people in their everyday lives, which at the time was a very radical idea.”

Escribiendo Cine (Argentina), 26.08.2009: “To begin with I wasn’t at all sure how to tackle it. I starting thinking about the subject, and turning it over. And I thought it was very interesting just what sanctity means for all of us, because it’s not an outdated subject in itself. Then what seemed a very interesting idea to me was Josemaria’s choice, his view of life: that all human beings can be saints.”

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (Germany), 25.08.2009: “Josemaria had to make very difficult decisions in a very difficult context. He accepted diversity at a time when people were supposed to show their political position. I wanted to highlight Josemaria’s idea of finding the meaning of life in the things of every day.”

La Nación (Argentina), 30.08.2009: “Josemaria believed something incredible: that any, and I mean any human being has the potential to be a saint. He also felt that that path to God could be found in daily life, ordinary life. And that’s something that when you think about it, it’s very liberating.”

Rome Reports, News Agency (Italy), 3.09.09: Watch the video

- For further details see the film website There be dragons

- A live Press Conference transcript about “THERE BE DAGONS”, a film directed by Roland Joffe (October 29th, 2009)