“Judas' Gospel”, the new film directed by Giulio Base, has arrived in Italian cinemas, offering a bold and unconventional reinterpretation of the New Testament. Running for 93 minutes, the film does not portray Judas simply as history’s most infamous betrayer. Instead, it presents him as a tragic and deeply damaged figure, a victim of trauma who ultimately becomes an executioner of his own fate.

According to the film’s narrative, Judas is born in a brothel, loses his mother during childbirth, and grows up surrounded by violence and abuse. As a child, he kills the brothel keeper while defending himself from an attempted assault. But as he grows older, that unresolved pain hardens into emotional brutality, until his path crosses with Jesus.
Their meeting takes place in the same brothel, now owned by Judas, which Jesus visits while searching for Mary Magdalene, whom he has just saved from being stoned. Shot between Italy and Poland in 2025, the film features an international cast including Giancarlo Giannini, Lambert Wilson, Rupert Everett, Tomasz Kot and Paz Vega, alongside John Savage, Darko Peric and Abel Ferrara.

Written by Giulio Base himself, “Judas' Gospel” was presented out of competition at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival, and now reaches Italian audiences as one of the more provocative biblical films of the season.