European Parliament chief, Jerzy Buzek is to attend tonight’s screening of a full-length documentary about Pope John Paul II in the European Parliament in Brussels. 

MEP and invited guests will be shown an English version of the film entitled John Paul II. I kept looking for you.

Directed by Poland’s Jarosław Szmidt, it presents the universal character of the Pope’s message, his unique place in the history of the Church, as well as his extraordinary personality, which attracted to him millions of people in all continents, irrespective of their social status, age and religious denomination.

The film is the biggest production venture in the history of Polish documentary film. It took four years to make, with location shooting in 13 countries in four continents, including Israel, Mexico, Bolivia, Jordan, Zambia, Cameroon, Botswana, Turkey and Morocco.

The film uses hitherto unknown footage, including materials from the Vatican archives documenting the Pope’s first foreign trips in the early 1980s, which were not covered at length by the state television in communist Poland.

Several days ago, the film was shown to Pope Benedict XVI and earlier this month in the Polish Parliament. (mk)