What would Jesus preach in the 21st century? Who would his apostles be? Swiss director Milo Rau (THE CONGO TRIBUNAL) returns to the origins of the Gospel in the southern Italian city of Matera and stages it as a passion play of a society marked by injustice and inequality.

Together with political activist Yvan Sagnet, he creates a highly political Jesus film in which biblical narrative and revolt flow into one another. Following Jesus' example, Yvan returns to the largest refugee camp near Matera as a "fisher of men" to find his "disciples": Desperate people who have come to Europe across the Mediterranean to be enslaved in the tomato fields of southern Italy, where they live in inhumane conditions. Together with resident small farmers, they found the "Rivolta della Dignità", a political campaign, led by Yvan, fighting for the rights of migrants. THE NEW EVANGELIUM is a manifesto of solidarity of the poorest, a cinematic uprising for a fairer, more humane world.