Prize-Winning Filmmaker Fr. Mark Bosco, SJ, Wants You to Read Flannery O'Connor

When the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns thinks you’ve made a movie about author Flannery O’Connor worthy of a $200,000 prize awarded in his name, you’re doing pretty well. And when that movie is the first film you have ever made in your life, you’re doing REALLY well. That’s the surprising story of guest Fr. Mark Bosco, SJ, who is the vice president for mission and ministry at Georgetown University, a scholar of British and American Catholic literature, and, as of this autumn, a prize-winning filmmaker. Years ago, Fr. Bosco was given a collection of archival video recordings which featured interviews of some of Flannery O’Connor’s friends, who is a truly original and indispensable voice in the canon of American literature. Fr. Bosco wanted to share the interviews with the world, but didn’t know the best way to do it. So he connected with Elizabeth Coffman, a documentary filmmaker and professor at Loyola University Chicago, and they partnered to bring the film to life. Fr. Bosco and host Mike Jordan Laskey talked about how the movie came into being, what the prize will help the filmmakers do, and why Flannery O’Connor is worth reading and studying today.