"Joachim and the Apocalypse"
Out of more than 450 competing scripts for the 2024 edition, the script for the film "Joachim and the Apocalypse", produced by Delta Star Pictures won the Best Historical Screenplay award. In addition to the work of writer Michela Albanese and director Jordan River, historical scholars Valeria De Fraja and renowned philosopher Andrea Tagliapietra contributed as historical consultants.
The project also received valuable support from numerous renowned figures and cultural organizations. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Calabria Film Commission Foundation, and various other institutions, the film draws inspiration from the apocalypse described by biblical exegete Joachim of Fiore, who lived in the Middle Ages.
Set in the 1200s, the narrative unfolds on multiple levels: a historical one, based on real events, and a fantasy one, derived from metaphysical states such as the dream dimension, as well as ecstasy and the journey through the three realms of Dante's imaginary, namely Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise.
It tells the story of a monk who transformed some of his visions into images (figurae) and symbols, encapsulating them in the "Liber Figurarum." This ancient medieval illuminated manuscript has survived over 800 years up to the present day, with one of the three existing copies currently preserved in England, at Oxford.
The international release of the film is scheduled around the end of 2024 and the turn of the upcoming jubilee year.