We have a feeling Blessed Carlo Acutis would be proud if he saw what three teens from Ireland have made in his honor.
Brothers Louis, Iosaf, and Oliver Flynn, ages 16, 14, and 18, created a stop-motion LEGO movie about the life of Blessed Carlo, the soon-to-be canonized Italian teen who was known for using technology to evangelize.
It’s the latest of dozens of stop-motion films the teens have made, many about Catholic themes.
The short film called The INCREDIBLE Life of Carlo Acutis is now available on YouTube under the name Fiontar Floinn (Irish for "Flynn Enterprises"):
We had the chance to talk with Louis Flynn about the teens’ inspiration, film-making process, and goal for their videos. Here’s our conversation.
What inspired you to make LEGO movies about saints?
We always wanted to evangelize through our videos. We had long thought to make a video on Blessed Carlo, because he's such an inspiration to us, being a fellow young person.
We thought his whole story is so inspiring for people of his own age to hear. His devotion to the Eucharist, his devotion to Jesus, and that it really came from his heart, because his parents weren't practicing. It's just really powerful to see that connection he made with the Blessed Sacrament.
I thought it was very fitting if we made a video about him, because he was all for evangelizing through technology.
Tell us about your film-making process.
We've started making videos in more complicated and advanced ways, but starting off, it was just making little Lego movies on our bedroom floor, which is just a lot of fun. More recently, we’ve used an app called Stop Motion Studio Pro and iMovie for editing.
For every second of film you see, we have to animate 15 frames, and each frame would consist of an individual little movement. That's one thing that I think we've gotten much better at over the years, as it can look jerky and unrealistic if you move it too much in one frame.
Unless you're the one making it, I don’t think anyone can truly understand the time and work that goes into an animated video!
What’s the most important thing you want people to know about your films?
There's so much work involved, which makes us stop and reflect on why we’re doing this, and why embark on a project like this. Our mission was to evangelize, to share these stories with young people and encourage them to use their talents for the glory of God.
Today's young Catholics are so creative in finding ways to share their faith with their peers. The Flynn brothers are an amazing example of using technology for a great purpose, just as Blessed Carlo did.
