Following the news that Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized next year, Castletown Media has some exciting news. A new film, set to be released in the spring of 2025, explores the life of Carlo as it aims to not only inspire but to offer hope that his life will resonate with young people.
As the first Millennial to be canonized a saint, Carlo Acutis—though he lived only 15 years—made a profound impact on his community and now the world. Soon viewers will come to know this amazing young man as they see him through the eyes of his mother, his father, and the friends who knew him best.
According to a Castletown press release, the film “blends live-action, animation, and documentary-style interviews with Carlo’s family, friends, scholars, and tech experts.” In addition, it “tackles urgent contemporary questions, examining how the rise of artificial intelligence and the virtual landscape challenge our fundamental understanding of what it means to be human.”
I spoke with Tim Moriarty, founder and executive director of Castletown Media and the film’s director, who explained that this is the perfect film to follow on the heels of Castletown’s most recent release, Jesus Thirsts, a film about the Eucharist. Jesus Thirsts has taken the world by storm and is now the number one grossing documentary of 2024.
Castletown’s new film entitled Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age will likely also have a profound impact on viewers.
Carlo Acutis was a young Italian boy who, from an early age, felt a deep devotion to Christ, especially Christ in the Eucharist, as he understood that the Eucharist was his “highway to heaven.” A genius at computer programming, Carlo created a website cataloguing the Church’s Eucharistic miracles.
In many ways, Carlo was considered an ordinary boy. He had friends, played soccer, went to school, and loved video games. But his piety, his temperance, his devotion to Christ, and his love for his fellow human being made him extraordinary. Whether he was teaching his friends and classmates about God, giving his own food to the homeless, instructing young children in the faith, sitting quietly in Adoration, attending daily Mass, or helping nuns with computer problems, Carlo lived his life for God and glorified Him in everything he did.
And that, according to Moriarty, is one of the main themes of the film—that everything we do should point to God—that it is “God not I.” He explained that our culture has become one where people are mostly concerned about themselves. We hold in high regard social media influencers, we post on social media mostly selfies and images of what we are doing, and we spend hours every day on our devices.
But Moriarty asked, “Where is God in all of this?” He explained that Carlo serves as a beautiful example of putting God first because his focus was always on God.
If we want to attain the happiness that Carlo felt and shined to those around him, and if we too want to become saints, we must change our focus. We have to put God first in our lives, for as Moriarty said, “Happiness, real happiness, a life with joy is when one lives for God. It’s the antidote to the me culture.”
This is a crucial lesson for our times, especially as the increasing use of technology and social media has led to not only a disconnect between people but to an increase in mental health conditions. As Moriarty pointed out, among those considered part of Generation Z (young people who are now between the ages of 12 and 27), screen time increased exponentially after COVID and is now over seven hours a day. Further, over 40% of Gen Z has a diagnosed mental health condition, including depression and anxiety. It is no secret that there is a correlation between too much screen time and mental health issues.
The film examines the way in which technology moves us away from the body and into the virtual realm and explores how electronic communication moves us toward a discarnate way of being. Increased interactions, or solely interacting, in this virtual world damage both our spiritual and psychological lives.
As Moriarty explained, technology can be a powerful means of evangelization, but when used without moderation, it can take over and cause us to live lives detached from others and from reality.
The film attempts to offer Carlo’s example of temperance as an antidote to the troubles that young people today face. And it offers an alternative mindset for how we should live and build a culture of life. Moriarty explained that his hope is to show people of all ages, especially the young, that this increased and intense focus we have on technology leads to missing out on a full experience of life, and even more dire, it leads to separation from reality and from God—the ultimate reality.
Moriarty shared that one of the most exciting elements of the film is that it follows a group of high school students from North Dakota who embarked on a two-week pilgrimage to Italy and visited Carlo’s tomb. Every member of this group left their phones at home during their journey. Depicting these youth, Moriarty said, is a way to show young people that they are not beholden to their phones and that life can only be truly lived when they create holy and fulfilling friendships with others and work to glorify God in everything they do.
Carlo Acutis was an extraordinary young man who left a profound legacy of love and devotion to others and to God. His mother once said that he was her “little savior” because he helped her return to the faith. Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age explores how Carlo’s example can transform our lives as well, as it will not only inspire us to live holier lives, putting God first, but will help us focus on the reality that is our Lord Jesus Christ.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report at catholicworldreport.com/2024/07/15/blessed-carlo-acutis-film-set-for-2025-release.
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