Scorsese: Silence
April 22, 2026
Martin Scorsese: Maestro of Cinema
Scorsese chose to show this spiritual thriller, in which 17th-century priests (Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver) seek their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) in Japan, where Christianity is outlawed, but a visionary voice still speaks. A meditation on Christian and Buddhist thought, an illumination of physical and metaphysical faith. Scorsese as landscape painter.
SIFF year-round passes are not valid for this series.
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Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Catholics live in a community of witnesses, a chain of being that stretches back unbroken to those who knew Jesus and His mother when they walked the earth. For decades Scorsese dreamed of filming Shusaku Endo’s novel of Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan, and he pointedly wanted this film in our series. Young priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) journey to rural Japan on a mission to find their mentor Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who seems to have renounced his faith and disappeared. Silence is a thriller of faith, suspense and hazard, for Japanese rulers suppress and persecute Christian believers, just as Roman overlords did to Jesus and his followers. Some believers pretend to renounce their faith just to survive. Opposing choices can put either body or soul at risk. With intense emotion Scorsese shows Rodrigues, Garupe and Ferreira responding to this thorny equation, in a forsaken world where a visionary voice still speaks. Scorsese feels his filmmaking gift is a divine calling, his way of manifesting the grace of empathy and love. He first screened Silence in Rome, for an approving Pope Francis and 300 Jesuit priests. His Holiness had read Endo’s novel, and hoped the film would “bear much fruit."
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Principal Cast: Liam Neeson. Andrew Garfield, Ken Watanabe, Adam Driver
- Country: USA
- Year: 2016
- Running Time: 161 min.
- Producer: Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese, Shusaku Endo
- Screenplay: Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Barbara De Fina, Randall Emmett, David Lee
- Cinematographers: Rodrigo Prieto
- Editors: Thelma Schoonmaker
- Music: Kathryn Kluge, Kim Allen Kluge
- US Distributor: Paramount