Mary Bowen, founder and director of Industrious Family Films, joins The Catholic Morning Show to share how her family turned a shared love of wholesome storytelling into a full-fledged Catholic film studio. She discusses their newest and most ambitious project, Fabiola, a big-screen adaptation of the classic novel about a pagan Roman noblewoman transformed by the courage of the early Christian martyrs. Bowen explains how audiences can watch filmed scenes, support the production, and follow the film's progress toward a planned fall 2028 release.
Mary Bowen recounts how her family avoided mainstream films growing up until, at fourteen, she watched the low-budget homeschool production The War of the Vendée and realized a family could make movies of its own. Since 2017, Industrious Family Films has produced seven feature films and more than twenty other productions, with each project sharpening the family's skills as directors, cinematographers, and actors.
Their newest project, Fabiola, adapts the classic novel of the same name and follows a pagan Roman noblewoman during the last great persecution of the Church. Drawn to the courage of her Christian friends — including Saints Sebastian, Agnes, and Tarcisius — she must choose between a comfortable pagan life and a faith that could cost her everything. Two scenes have already been filmed on location in Idaho, including cave scenes and footage at the sand dunes. Inspired by the success of Angel Studios and The Chosen, the Bowen family is now raising funds for their first fully-budgeted film, with fundraising continuing through 2026, principal filming planned for 2027, and release targeted for fall 2028. Visually, Bowen says the film draws on the look of Golden Age Hollywood classics like Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments alongside the modern polish of films like Disney's Aladdin.
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