Carl Theodor Dreyer, Leaves from Satan’s Book (1920)
This is a feature film about the life of Jesus from the public ministry of his preaching, teaching, and healing to the crucifixion. In starkest outline, it presents what Jesus actually said and did within the context of Jewish life in the Ancient Near East.
The Danish film director Carl Theodor Dreyer worked on the 309-page screenplay for over 30 years and was close to filming at the time of his death in 1968. Written in English, the screenplay was published by Dell Publishing Co., New York, 1971. This is the version Hisham Bizri will adapt and direct.
Bizri has an agreement with the Danish Film Institute in Copenhagen, who hold the “moral” rights to the screenplay, to produce the film. It will be the first time a film is made from Dreyer’s screenplay.