HOLLYWOOD OUTBREAK -- MARCH 26, 2021: “Director Evgeny Afineevsky Didn’t Want The World To Wait For ‘Francesco’”
Acclaimed documentary director Evgeny Afineevsky is no stranger to pursuing his art in the face of adversity and danger. He’s made films set in the conflicts of Syria and Ukraine, two of the world’s most deadly hotspots over the course of the last decade. And while the subject of his latest film, Francesco, isn’t as inherently dangerous — it’s a profile of Pope Francis — it was still made at a dangerous time, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he told us he didn’t want to wait to make the film; Afineevsky says he pursued Francesco at this time because he felt like the world needed to see humanity from a figure like Pope Francis, and as a filmmaker, he felt an obligation to do something about it.