Film series tells life-changing stories of bold faith

Juan Manuel Cotelo in Rwanda

Fifteen years ago, Spanish actor and producer Juan Manuel Cotelo was comfortable in his Catholic faith - and kept it safely out of the public eye. He humorously described his relationship with God back then as akin to a secret love affair, saying:

"I love you very much, but there is no need that the rest of the people know that we love each other so much. Yes, I will love you at home with the door closed. And you know that I love you, right? When I come back home I will love you again. Wait for me at home, wait for me at the church."

Now, however, he is publicly committed to using media to tell miraculous and joyful stories of people who have embraced a call to act courageously in the service of God. He wants to encourage many more people through contemporary examples of men, women and children who are living out their faith with conviction.

The actor's personal faith grew after paying heed to what he laughingly described as a "stupid idea" that refused to leave him alone, leading him into unknown territory. Cotelo had been working in mainstream media for years when a thought began to follow him repeatedly: "Speak about Me." He describes playing "ping pong" with this idea for a few years.

"The thought comes and you hit it back. And the ball comes back - you reject it again. For three years the ball was coming back again and again: Speak about Me, Speak about Me. One day I was tired of rejecting the ball."

The workings of grace soon became evident in this call, and he compares following the directions of God to trusting a mountain guide. "You don't interrupt Him, you put your life in His hand and let Him make the decisions of the trip. You do what He decides. If He goes forward, you go forward; if He stops, you stop; if He decides to go back, you go back. It is the only way to go to a superior level ... If you want to [remain on] your level, you don't need anyone else. If you want to go higher, you need to trust someone else."

One project has led to another since 2008, climbing to ever-new heights. He now runs a production company 'Infinito Mas Uno', based in Valencia in Spain, which is responsible for five feature films that have been produced and released in theatres in 41 countries and on Netflix. His company also creates online content and by 2022, their online productions had reached 52 million views.

Similar to the hit series 'The Chosen', Cotelo's productions are crowdfunded, so that the most popular projects - the ones that hit a nerve with the public and garner support - are first to move forward. Currently, Cotelo is crowdfunding for a series of documentaries on people and organisations that exemplify the call of Pope Francis: "Hagan Lio!"

"Hagan Lio" is a Spanish phrase that means "go and be heard" in Argentina, while in Mexico this phrase would be taken to mean "go make a mess" or "go get in trouble". The phrase was used by Pope Francis at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, and has somewhat taken on a life of its own, becoming a motto and inspiring memes, playing on its variation of meanings.

Given that it has various possible interpretations in Spanish, "Hagan Lio" is tricky to translate into English. The documentary series it has inspired has been dubbed in English "Let's Be Bold" - and the stories Cotelo wishes to tell are delightfully bold. They carry a counter-cultural message, along with an infectious joy.

Cotelo is passionate about telling stories that might be unknown to many people, and as a start has gathered twelve examples of people and groups showing courageous faith in action. These stories are truly good news, and he believes that they deserve to be told widely.

Upcoming productions rolling out in 2023

Following the rapid success of an initial fundraising campaign, six documentaries are now scheduled to move into production. One of the first in the series will be about the international school feeding charity, Mary's Meals, which provides daily school meals for 2.4 million children, providing hope for the future for many children in some of the poorest places in the world.

Mary's Meals is a story of prayer-led inspiration that gathered unstoppable momentum and became an international movement. The charity reaches out to and works with people of all faiths and none, but it is also deeply marked by the Catholic faith of its founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, as well as being named after Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Cotelo hopes that making such stories more widely known will show a beautiful face of the church that many people have not yet seen and inspire many others to take a leap of faith to follow their own calling in life.

The ultimate goal for Cotelo is to communicate in a way that transforms people, and the results that he has seen from Infinito Mas Uno telling such stories are galvanising:

"I could tell you lots of miracles that we have seen in only 14 years. Lots, lots of conversions. All kinds of conversions. From people who were desperate because they have done something really, really bad, to people who were really sad, all kinds of people. And now they are spots of light in the world. They have been resurrected. I know so many dead people who now are alive. The impossible cases, people where we would have said it is impossible that they will recover peace or be an apostle or be happy again. God transforms our lives completely."

After the initial six stories, a further half dozen documentaries will be made once the next set of funds has been raised. It will ultimately be up to the public to decide how many testimonies like this should be unfolded into documentaries.

For more information on this series, see: www.infinitomasuno.org/bolderfaith/

Juan Manuel Cotelo's personal story can be heard here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo1Lnz0_4S4