Jerome Bongiorno and Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno make no bones about it: their Catholic faith is very much a part of their mission as filmmakers. The married couple’s latest project is a pair of documentaries titled “American Women Saints” that focus on Elizabeth Ann Seton and Frances Xavier Cabrini. Broadcast initially on PBS in March, the two films are now streaming on the PBS website through Aug. 31. In the documentaries, the two saints talk from “beyond the grave” via Tibaldo-Bongiorno’s first-person narration. It’s an unexpected technique for the format, but in these films, viewers hear the saints speak in a colloquial, modern tone — with a decidedly New Jersey accent. For graphics, the Seton documentary relies on paintings, illustrations and Bongiorno’s impressionistic animation for visuals. The Cabrini film has a wealth of archival photographs and some film clips. “We wanted them treated as historic figures, iconic women who trailblazed,” said Tibaldo-Bongiorno. Seton is the first American-born Catholic to become a saint. She founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph and her life story is set against the backdrop of the birth of U.S. Catholicism in the late 1700s. Cabrini was born and grew up in Italy in the 1850s. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her documentary includes a history of early-20th-century Italian emigration to the United States.
~ NCR website
https://www.ncronline.org/culture/married-filmmakers-release-pbs-documentaries-american-women-saints