Scorsese partnership gives evangelical artist wider exposure

THE BAPTIST STANDARD
By DAVID VAN BIEMA

"Silence," a new movie by Martin Scorsese, examines issues of faith as it tells the story of Jesuit priests in 17th century Japan. “Mako” Fujimura, a Japanese-American evangelical artists, served as special adviser for the film. (Paramount Pictures)

HOLLYWOOD---Decades before Makoto “Mako” Fujimura became America’s most successful evangelical fine artist—and even longer before he advised Martin Scorsese on the director’s new movie, Silence—an unplanned turn down a darkened museum hall in Tokyo defined his artistic calling. During Japan’s 250-year persecution of its Christians, magistrates forced suspected believers to trample the images or face torture and death. At first Fujimura worried the film might be “a culture wars project.” But the script impressed him, and an hour-long meeting with Scorsese convinced him of the director’s intellectual enthusiasm as well as earnestness. [link]