Watched by more than 50,000 people in 200 usually sold out screenings in six months, the movie The Triumph is surpassing all expectations. Captured on a non-existent budget and edited on an old computer, the movie is now changing lives in screenings organized by lay people.
Ticket for The Triumph, with Cross Mountain behind it
Medjugorje movie The Triumph has been just that since its premiere on March 18 this year.
Six months into the screenings, the total audience sums up to a conservatively estimated 50,000 people. 200 screenings were recently reached in 50 American cities and six countries outside USA. Only a handful are missing before the movie has been screened in every American state.
Along the way, more than $75,000 have been raised for Medjugorje charities and other faith-based charities.
Director Sean Bloomfield with his wife and the youngest of the couple’s three children, at The Triumph’s premiere in Chicago
The results have been achieved though The Triumph was produced on a next to non-existent budget, then edited in a corner of a small apartment, on director Sean Bloomfield’s dated computer which died soon after the movie was finished. Screenings are arranged by private individuals.
“The film is spreading across the world at an increasing velocity simply by word-of-mouth; members of the audience who see it in one theater often go on to host their own screenings because they were so inspired by it, and they realize that it has the potential to change lives. Now this little film is being shown in large cinemas around the world. Without a large marketing budget like most Hollywood films, we have relied on everyday people to bring the movie to theaters near them” Sean Bloomfield tells Medjugorje Today.
Hosted by lay people, almost every screening has sold out
“Almost every screening has sold out completely, with many hosts having to secure additional theaters because the demand is so huge. We are finding that showing the film in theaters like this offers a neutral ground so that the people who need to see it most—those without faith who would never see it in a church or buy it to watch at home—can feel comfortable going to see it” says the director.
“The testimonies and stories of conversions from audience members have been overwhelming. I cannot even count the number of people who have told me they want to go to Medjugorje for the first time after seeing the film. Nothing makes me happier than hearing that.”
Official poster for The Triumph
Since a Medjugorje visit in 2000 sparked his conversion, Sean Bloomfield has produced eight films about Marian apparitions.
“The Triumph is by far the most important film I have ever worked on, and all the credit goes to God because it seemed like everything unfolded according to a plan. Through the course of filming, the movie became the title, in an unexpected way” Sean Bloomfield tells.
“The original goal was to make a film about Our Lady’s triumph, something she has promised to accomplish through Medjugorje. In peoples’ imaginations, the promised triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart sounds like some cataclysmic battle, something huge and breathtaking. With that in mind, the visionary Mirjana became a focus of the film, since she will be the one to reveal the Medjugorje secrets to the world with Fr. Petar Ljubicic, who also appears in The Triumph” he says.
Though visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo has a central position in the movie, she shares it with an ordinary man found among the Medjugorje pilgrims.
Visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo during the filming
“Another goal was to try to capture a person’s conversion on film, and a young man named Ben came into our lives. He was suffering from addictions and was not much of a believer in the apparitions. Just like my own story, his mom brought him to Medjugorje” Sean Bloomfield tells about the man he met while he was entertaining Bloomfield’s kids outside St. James Church in Medjugorje.
From the filming of The Triumph
“Ben agreed to be filmed, and what we captured is incredibly powerful. In a way, it is no different than what has happened to millions of pilgrims who have come to Medjugorje and experienced conversion, but the beauty of Ben’s journey is that it was all caught on film.”
“Ultimately, it made us realize that “the triumph” is not some singular cataclysmic battle; on the contrary, Our Lady is triumphing within each one of us, and she’s doing it one soul at a time. Given Mary’s deep humility, this makes total sense” says Sean Bloomfield.
A group of nuns arriving for a screening
With 22 more US screenings scheduled before the end of October, by a time when The Triumph will be shown eight times in Canada, Australia, and Ireland, and with more underway in Guatemala, Philippines, Guam, and Mexico, you may host a screening, too.
All necessary informations on how to bring the movie to a theatre near you can be found at the official movie website.
Trailers for The Triumph
Director: Sean Bloomfield
Producer: Zaid Jazrawi
Triumph Films 2013
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