Here’s the latest dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture:

Music Box Films’ latest movie, The Apparition, will open Sept. 7 in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, then expand nationwide throughout September.

From the press release: In The Apparition, Jacques (Vincent Lindon) is a journalist at a large regional newspaper in France. His reputation as an impartial investigator attracts the attention of the Vatican, which recruits him to lead a committee to explore the legitimacy of a saintly apparition in a small French village — a true canonical investigation. Upon his arrival, he meets the young novitiate Anna (Galatéa Bellugi), who claims to have personally witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary. She’s garnered an impressive following in the village but is torn between her faith and the many solicitations she receives. Confronted with opposing views from clergy members and skeptics, Jacques finds his belief system profoundly shaken as he works to uncover the hidden motivations and pressures at work.

The art house film has won the endorsement of Relevant Radio and EWTN host Michael O’Neill, The  author of Exploring the Miraculous and an expert on Marian apparitions calls The Apparition “a gripping and sobering look at the Catholic Church’s process of investigation and validation of an alleged supernatural occurrence and the emotions, complications and perils surrounding such an event.”