Monday morning brought two news stories from the world of cinema of interest to Catholics.
The first: "Henry Herx, Film Critic for Catholic Publications, Dies at 79."
Henry Herx oversaw the transformation of the national office of the Legion of Decency after Vatican II into the USCCB Office for Film and Television. This office has since been closed and reviews are now published under the purview of the Catholic News Service. Herx wrote more than 10,000 reviews in his lifetime. Many of these are archived and available, as well as other reviews before 2012, on the USCCB website.
Second, over the weekend, the Catholic jury at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, organized by SIGNIS, gave its main prize to Terence Malick's new film "To the Wonder," describing it thus:
The Catholic jury had five international members, including Jesuit Fr. Edward Siebert, president of Loyola Productions in Los Angeles.
The jury noted that the film's reception was mixed, as it was to Malick's 2011 film "The Tree of Life," but saw this new film as a companion piece to it.
The jury also decided to give a special commendation to the Israeli film "Fill the Void" by Rama Burshtein.
The Catholic jury at the film festival included Gustavo Andújar of Cuba, president; Massimo Giraldi of Italy, secretary; Arianna Prevedello of Italy; Jesuit Fr. Edward Siebert of the United States; and Mario Tapia of Ecuador.
