THE SHROUD
FACE TO FACE
A DOCUMENTARY BY ROBERT ORLANDO
SUMMER 2023
THE SHROUD
FACE TO FACE
THE CRIME OF THE MILLENNIA
ABOUT THE FILM
Robert Orlando claims that when we look through the lens of the Roman crucifixion, to find the “criminal Jesus”, we are coming face to face with the most transformative true crime story of Western history.
In a fresh approach, this documentary utilizes a New Testament and storyteller’s eye to examine the evidence behind the world’s most studied artifact and its connection to the historical Jesus. With new digital recreations, expert interviews, and the latest technology, the creators have reconstructed the actual crime scene surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion and present a mind-blowing fusion of faith and science for the first time.
Can the evidence behind the Shroud of Turin truly prove the story of Christ? From the bloodstain evidence we know the linen burial shroud did cover a man who suffered a brutal crucifixion, but we can also see details that go beyond a typical Roman form of execution to wounds particular to those suffered by Jesus as recorded in the gospel stories. The blood stained shroud indicates his crown of thorns, wounded side, the whip marks, and the presence of ferritin which proves extreme torment. This is actual blood with traces of hemoglobin, AB+ blood type, and a partial genetic profile, not artistic chemicals or dyes or paint. The film will also take you on a quest where you will see new scientific evidence being brought to light on radiological imagery. The evidence points to its authenticity not only as a burial shroud, but potentially the actual shroud of Jesus.
With the help of scientists and experts, Writer-Scholar-Filmmaker Orlando will reconstruct the narrative using forensic evidence to uncover whether the image on the Shroud could be the actual Jesus.
The church has yet to claim the Shroud's authenticity, but many popes have venerated it in its home at the Cathedral of Turin. Many skeptics continue to challenge its authenticity, but as Pope John Paul II said, "The Shroud requires every person to grasp its profound message humbly to his reason and life." In that, the Shroud might "mirror the Gospel." Orlando agrees that "in our expanding digital age connecting the gospel story with the scientific evidence will spark a renaissance of interest in the origins of the Christian story and its profound impact on World History."
"When we look through the lens of science at the Shroud to find the truth about Jesus, we are coming face to face with the most profound story of western history: A crucified and shamed man gives his life to change all humanity. How, in a brutal world, weakness, vulnerability, and sacrifice for others could revitalize the human spirit. To face Jesus in the exposed Shroud -- the bloodstains and whippings -- we see the picture proof Face to Face of how one man's suffering transformed the world. The power of the Shroud reveals the core historical event that has defined us as a people in the life and death of Christ."
-- Writer-Director Robert Orlando
ABOUT ROBERT ORLANDO
Robert Orlando, BFA, School of Visual Arts, is a filmmaker, author, scholar, and Executive Director of Nexus Media. His studies include film, religion, ancient and modern history, and biography as a scholar. As an award-winning writer/director, his films include thought-provoking documentaries such as Silence Patton, The Divine Plan, and Citizen Trump and the upcoming Shroud. His books include Apostle Paul: The Final Days, The Divine Plan, The Tragedy of Patton, Citizen Trump: A One Man Show, and Karl Marx. He is published in the book Writing Short Scripts. His articles have appeared in the American Thinker, The Catholic Thing, Daily Caller, HuffPost, Townhall, Patheos, and Merion West. Orlando has spoken at numerous churches, colleges, The White House, and The Vatican. He is currently finishing his graduate studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he presently resides.
ABOUT JASON PEARSON
Jason Pearson has worked on marketing and creative for 61 films since first joining the team in 2004 for The Passion of the Christ. He has worked on 5 of the top 10 successful faith based films at the box office. His projects have included; Star Wars, Narnia, The Shack, Ben-Hur, Son of God, The Polar Express, Rocky and Unplanned.
Pearson is the Creative Director for the Southern California Shroud Center and provides creative consulting for the new Christ Cathedral in the Diocese of Orange.
Pearson is the founder of two technology companies (Blender Magazine and Online Giving/Starwire) both successfully acquired. Pearson's creative work is featured in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewit Museum in NYC and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. His oil paintings are currently on display in Qatar as part of the Royal Al-Thani Family Collection.
10 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE SHROUD OF TURIN
1. In 1502, the house of Savoy placed the Shroud in the Sainte-Chapelle in Chambéry, which is now part of France. In 1532, a fire broke out in the chapel. It melted part of the silver in the container protecting the shroud, and this silver fell onto part of the shroud, burning through it. The burn marks and the water stains from where the fire was extinguished are still visible today.
2. The Shroud is currently housed at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. Security is tight for the frail Shroud of Turin. It is rarely shown to the public, and is guarded by security cameras and protected by bulletproof glass.
3. In 1898, The Shroud was photographed for the first time by an Italian named Secondo Pia. His pictures led to a startling discovery: The cloth’s faint yellowed image of a man, as seen with the naked eye, is actually a negative image that, when developed, turns into a detailed black and white positive photographic image. The image rests on the superficial surface of the linen cloth at a depth of 0.2 microns.
4. In 1972, Max Frei, a noted Swiss criminologist, was given permission to take dust samples from the Shroud that contained numerous pollen grains spores. He discovered 22 24 pollen samples species from plants unique to areas around Constantinople and Edessa.
5. John Jackson and Eric Jumper, using a VP-8 Image Analyzer designed for the space program, discovered the Shroud image contained encoded 3-D data not found in ordinary reflected light photographs.
6. The 1978 STURP Scientific summary report says, "No pigments, paints, dyes or stains have been found on the fibrils … We can conclude for now that the Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an artist ... The bloodstains are composed of hemoglobin and also give a positive test for serum albumin ... The blood is male type AB ... the answer to the question of how the image was produced or what produced the image remains, now, as it has in the past, a mystery".
7. Textile expert Mechthild Flury-Lemberg revealed that the stitching of a seam on the Shroud that runs the entire length, known as the "side-strip," is typical of Jewish burial shrouds found in the ancient fortress of Masada in southern Israel. She verifies the Shroud as a style of textile used in First Century Israel. The weave is a Herringbone weave (early Christian symbol of a fish) with a 3 in 1 pattern (Symbolic of the Trinity)
8. The STURP team found that no substances have been manually applied to the cloth, including no substances such as paint, ink, dye, collagen binders, pigments, or stain were used to constitute the image. no substances found between threads, as with a dust rubbing.
9. The Shroud shows over 120 scourge (whip) marks compatible with Roman flagrum.
10. The Shroud does not contain any stains signs of body decomposition. The body was in rigor mortis when the image was formed. The resurrection happened on the third day before post rigor mortis decomposition had time to occur.
The Nexus Institute 501(c3) focuses on TV, motion pictures, books and screenplays, along with award-winning documentaries and shorts. Our team has years of experience in media storytelling and developing well crafted engaging content. We invite you to view some of our past projects, and participate in our new initiatives.
