Milo Rau
By Charlotte Stace
The CCCB is hosting Swiss director Milo Rau’s documentary The New Gospel as part of Barcelona’s Grec 2025 festival. The screening will coincide with the performances of Medea’s Kinderen, also directed by Rau.
The New Gospel reimagines the life of Christ in a contemporary European context. It follows Cameroonian activist Yvan Sagnet - the first Black Jesus in European cinema - fighting exploitation on Italian tomato farms. Rau combines fictional narrative with real-life migrant testimonies, blending Christian symbolism with real world migrant suffering.
This film uses non-professional actors and Catholic iconography to highlight moral resistance. It situates its narrative in Matera’s refugee camp - a site previously used by Pasolini and Mel Gibson for films on the life of Jesus. The film is part of the larger “Resistance Now!” initiative at major European festivals, addressing cultural erosion, civil disintegration and threats to freedom.