December 11, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 22Oakland, CA

‘Picturing Mary’ documentary
debuts on public television

By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Rosemary Plum can catch her breath and give her well-thumbed-through passport a rest for the time being.

Plum recently returned to her London home from Mexico City, the last of 22 cities in 13 countries where she and her crew shot footage for the new documentary “Picturing Mary,” funded in part by the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign.

That’s not to say, however, that she’ll be less busy only because she’s more stationary.
Plum and her crew were editing footage even as they were shooting the 60-minute documentary.

“We’ve been editing whilst we’ve been filming, doubling up so we can save as much money as possible to get as much as possible up on the screen,” she said during a telephone interview from London.

Plum herself billed “Picturing Mary” as a kind of sequel to the 2001 documentary “The Face: Jesus in Art,” another CCC-funded production which showed how artists captured the face of Jesus within their time and culture. Plum was producer and location manager for “The Face.”

“Picturing Mary” is narrated by actress Jane Seymour with quotations read by actor James Keach.

Mary is seen in this detail from a painting by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi. The image is among those featured in the new documentary “Picturing Mary,” examining how Mary has been portrayed in art through the ages. The production is made possible in part by the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign.
CNS PHOTO/COURTESY OF ROSEMARY PLUM

“The Virgin Mary has been responsible for some of the finest expressions of the human spirit,” Plum said. “Hopefully we’re achieving that, and the motivations behind why she’s one of the most painted faces of history, really.”

Plum had a wealth of images from which to choose, given the travel schedule she endured for filming. Without revealing what images are in the film, Plum declared, “What it is fair to say is masterpieces and works that are less familiar to the audience” will be seen in the documentary.

“All of the artworks have been filmed in their original locations,” she added. “The whole point is to try to have the viewer, wherever they are in the world, (experience) what it’s like to be able to stand before some of these treasured arts.”

Plum and her crew, by acting in the viewer’s stead, got to see things few tourists ever would.

One coup was filming Michelangelo’s “Pieta” at
the Vatican. “We were able to film it for the first time in nearly 30 years from behind the glass,” Plum said.

She explained that “ever since a madman attacked it with a hammer” in the 1970s, it has been protected by bulletproof glass. “This is the first time in over 30 years that permission’s been granted” for anyone to go behind the glass, she said.

Hailing “Pieta” as “the most famous piece of art,” Plum said that “it’s the only piece that Michelangelo’s ever signed.”

She said her biggest revelation came in filming images of Mary on the islands of Lake Tana in Ethiopia. “We were working a little bit in unknown realms of what we would find when we got to Lake Tana,” which covers more than 2,100 square miles, Plum said. “On this lake there are some 30 islands dotted around, and at least 20 of these islands have convents, monasteries on the lake -- some dating back to the 16th century.

“It’s unknown in terms of media. Very few people go and film” them, Plum said of the Marian images found at Lake Tana. “It made it, in our eyes, worth going. When we got there we just found a wealth of imagery and wealth of feeling toward Mary,” she added, noting that the images may be endangered because of Ethiopia’s heat and the lake’s humidity.

Then, there were other little surprises. “We were in New York and jumped into a cab and the driver had a pendant of Mother and Child” on his rearview mirror, Plum said. She asked, and received, permission to film the cabbie.

“Picturing Mary” will air on KQED Channel 9 on Dec. 21 at 9 p.m. It will also air on KQED Encosre; visit www.kqed.org/dtvfor details.
David DiCerto, a staff critic in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Film & Broadcasting, called “Picturing Mary” “an illuminating documentary.” “The film shows how, in earlier times when populations were largely illiterate,” he added, “the frescoes, altarpieces etc. served as pictorial catechisms, conveying theological truths and providing a virtual overview of Mariology.”

After the documentary has aired on public television, a 90-minute DVD version will be made available for sale and will include even more images of Mary, according to Plum. Cost will be $19.95 and can be purchased from USCCB Publishing online at: www.usccbpublishing.org, or by phone at: (800) 235-8722.)

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