Part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s mission is to foster greater understanding through world cinema. This year 72 Foreign Language films were submitted for Golden Globes consideration. Here is an overview of one of them.

Francis: Pray for Me is the first officially sanctioned biopic of Pope Francis.

The $6 million Spanish-language film was shot between Buenos Aires, Madrid and Rome and charts the early career of Jorge Mario Bergoglio through the eyes of an investigative reporter culminating in the papal conclave of 2013, in which the Jesuit prelate was elected Pope.

The biography has been hailed in Argentina as the most complete and up-to-date portrait of the Pope. The author, Elisabetta Pique, is a close friend of Francis and a correspondent of La Nación – Argentina’s main newspaper. According to the book, a vote of the 2013 papal conclave had to be annulled, as one cardinal inadvertently included a blank paper alongside the vote. The final result included 116 votes from 115 cardinals, and the extra vote could not be identified. All the ballots were burnt, and a new voting session replaced the failed one. The biography is based on 75 interviews of people close to Bergoglio, including the author – a close friend of Francis since 2001.

Of her subject Pique said, "(Francis) has been Pope for less than a year, but with everything he's done, it seems like it's been centuries. Even his list of new cardinals, says something about his vision. He is trying to balance the disproportion in the College of Cardinals. Half were European and about one fourth Italian, so it didn't really represent the Universal Church.

The movie takes us back to his younger days in Argentina and follows Francis up until the time he was elected as Pope. Beda Docampo Feijoo, whose credits include Crazy Loves and Quiéreme, directs Francisco. Dario Grandinetti stars as the Argentina-born Pontiff. “We hope this film conveys the admiration we all feel about a life consistently based on austerity and charity that will inspire,” said Feijoo. Beda Docampo Feijóo was born in 1948 in Vigo, Galicia, Spain. His family moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina when he was one year old. His credits include El Marido Perfecto (1993), El Último Tren (2002) and Amores Locos (2009).

Nellee Holmes