As young Canadian Catholic filmmaker Joseph D’Amario’s love for his craft deepened, certainty grew that a documentary venerating Sr. Carmelina Tarantino’s (1937-1992) legacy of service and redemptive suffering would emerge as a future passion project.

The 22-year-old is now ready to transform this intriguing possibility into reality. He is teaming with the award-winning Catholic producer and director Kevin Dunn to co-produce Smiling from the Cross: The Story of Sr. Carmelina Tarantino about the woman who may one day become Toronto's first saint.  D’Amario will also appear in front of the camera as the documentary’s principal investigator.

Throughout childhood, D’Amario was regaled with many stories from his mother, grandmother and other family members about their inspirational encounters with the Passionist Sister of St. Paul of the Cross at the old Riverdale Hospital (demolished in 2013) in Toronto during the 1970s and 1980s.

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On her back, immobilized for the last 23 years of her life due to what doctors described as a rare form of cancer, Tarantino still exhibited an indomitable spirit and a joy to spread the Gospel. She counselled thousands of people from her hospital bed before her passing on March 21, 1992, at age 55. She especially connected with the Italian community as she hailed from Liveri, Italy.

“My family very much attributes the faith passed down to me to her influence,” said D’Amario, who graduated as valedictorian of the Toronto Film School class of 2023. “Growing up, I would hear these stories like ‘Sr. Carmelina taught us how to pray these certain prayers, and there was even a little crucifix she gave my (grandmother).”

Convinced Tarantino’s life would be “incredible to show on film,” D’Amario pitched the idea to Dunn. It was natural for D’Amario to seek a collaboration with the 30-year professional as the former has become the latter’s go-to editor for recent projects, including the docudramas Roe Canada and Permission: Fr. Bob Bedard's Vision for the Church.      

Dunn, who shared that his mantra as a filmmaker during his long career is championing “prophets of hope,” explained to The Catholic Register why Tarantino’s life story is essential to document.       

“We need heroes, examples like Sr. Carmelina to remind us God has a purpose and a plan for our lives, whether it be joyful and in complete good health, or whether there's suffering involved, that he has that plan, and we need to journey with him,” said Dunn.

He added that Tarantino’s life “is a complete counter-narrative to the idea that some lives are living and some are not.”

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D’Amario echoed his collaborator’s insights about how people need to follow Tarantino’s lead and arrive at a different understanding of suffering.

“She once said, ‘Oh Jesus, suffering has been my joy, the gift that allowed me to meet you.’ I feel like it's something the world needs so badly today. We try so hard to get out of any form of inconvenience or suffering. To have someone not only accept that but say ‘it's my joy to be able to suffer’ is such a powerful witness,” he said.

This joint venture between DunnMedia & Entertainment and D’Amario’s Reelife Media, in association with the Passionist Sisters of Saint Paul of the Cross, is in its infancy. A crowdfunding campaign launched on March 21. The objective of this drive is to raise $150,000 in seed funding for the project.

Dollars raised via this enterprise will enable D’Amario and Dunn to conduct key interviews, travel to Italy for filming in Tarantino’s hometown and begin the storyboarding process for the dramatic reenactments of key moments from the Passionist Sister’s life.

If the campaign bears fruit, the duo could begin filming early in 2027 or sooner. Making meaningful progress on the production process during next year is deemed paramount for D’Amario and Dunn as Nov. 26, 2027, marks 50 years since Tarantino professing her vows of poverty, chastity and obedience from her hospital bed.

The approaching golden anniversary is not the only important “why now” consideration.

“(I’ve grown) up with this story and the kind of people who knew Sr. Carmelina or were affected by her,” said D’Amario. “I started realizing these people are aging, and some of those key players are also maybe not even in the best of health at the moment.  I have this pressing feeling that if I don't get interviews with these people now, a project like this is not going to happen. These stories would be lost, especially those personal eyewitness accounts.”

D'Amario and Dunn desire sit-downs with important figures like Tarantino’s surviving siblings and Fr. Claudio Piccinini, a Passionist missionary priest who served her spiritual director. Piccinini helped advance Tarantino’s case to become the first Toronto-based saint to the Vatican in 2019

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Since I was a kid, there has been a Novena prayer for her canonization. I have been praying it regularly for decades at this point,” said D’Amario. “A large part of the Italian community was just praying for her to become a saint, which maybe a film like this could help make her story much more known and maybe move things along in that direction.”

To learn more about Smiling from the Cross: The Story of Sr. Carmelina Tarantino, visit smilingfromthecross.com.