Armondo Linus Acosta (born 1938) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He directed the 1990 film Romeo.Juliet and The Last Supper: The Living Tableau, a film recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. His career includes work in feature films, television, and visual design.
Acosta began his career in artist and repertoire () and design consulting, creating album covers for producer Richard Bock, founder of Pacific Jazz Records (known in the 1960s as World Pacific Records).
From 1958 through 1963, Acosta collaborated with Roger Corman. Alongside Francis Ford Coppola, he served as a visual consultant on The Young Racers and Battle Beyond the Sun. Acosta also contributed to the The Haunted Palace.
In 1962, Acosta was the filmic designer for the NBC variety show "The Lively Ones." The show, sponsored by Ford Motor Company, aired for two seasons on NBC. That same year, Pope John XXIII commissioned Acosta to create, write and design a series of ten short feature films illustrating the Psalms. Acosta worked with Family Theater Productions and cinematographer James Crabe. The Psalms collection was screened in the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. One of the short films, The Soldier, featuring the then young William Shatner, was screened at the 1964 Venice Film Festival. The Soldier won awards in the international film festival circuit, along with receiving industry recognition.
In 1967, Acosta was named the head of the newly formed Crewe Co. Films Inc. Chairman Robert Crewe announced the appointment saying that it was the company's entry into the motion pictures.
Acosta was represented for over three decades by show business agent Dennis Selinger of ICM London.
After establishing his own company, Moonseed Productions, Acosta started working on his first full-length motion picture in 1988. He served as director, writer, cinematographer and producer. The film is an interpretation of Romeo and Juliet and features music from Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ballet performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by André Previn. The movie stars 120 street cats from Venice, Verona, Ghent and New York City. The only human character, a Venetian bag lady, was played by John Hurt. The voice-over cast included actors Dame Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Powell, Sir Ben Kingsley, Francesca Annis, Victor Spinetti and Quentin Crisp.
The world premiere of Romeo.Juliet film was held September 6, 1990 at the 47th Venice Film Festival. The film was also screened at the 1990 Film Fest Gent and Film Festival Cologne. In 1992, Romeo.Juliet was screened alongside a live orchestra at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, with Nicholas Cleobury conducting the Belgium National Orchestra.
It was the first major full-length motion picture to be shot exclusively on Betacam video and then successfully transferred to 35mm film.
âÂÂThe Last Supper: The Living Tableau", a 'Tableau vivant,' is a stand-alone film recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's painting The Last Supper, and the opening sequence of Acosta's feature film project, The Last Supper â A Divine Prophecy.
âÂÂThe Last Supper: The Living Tableau" was created in collaboration with multiple Academy Award winners Vittorio Storaro (cinematography), Dante Ferretti (production design) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decoration).
The short film has a nine-minute running time and recreates Leonardo da Vinci's âÂÂThe Last SupperâÂÂ, reflecting the original fresco's science of perspective, proportion and light. The accompanying musical score is RossiniâÂÂs Stabat Mater. It is Acosta's first of four Tableaus recreating Renaissance masterworks. The film was shot at the Academy One Studios, in Ghent, part of The Academy of the Subtle Arts which Acosta founded in 1996.
The world premiere of âÂÂThe Last Supper: The Living Tableau" took place in partnership with the Vatican Museums, Comune di Milano, SKIRA, Milano Leonardo 500 and Palazzo Reale, on October 8, 2019, at the Palazzo Reale Museum in Milan during their âÂÂThe Last Supper, Timeless Inspiration" installment.
There have been several projections and screenings of the film before and after the premiere.:
Acosta's second tableau, "The Communion: The Living Tableau" is based on Fra Angelico's "Communion of the Apostles." Also filmed at the Academy One Studios, the ten-minute film premiered in Florence at the San Marco Museum (February 18, 2023), home to Fra Angelico's work. The soundtrack is Rossini's Stabat Mater: Quando corpus morietur.
Acosta's third and fourth Tableaus, both in post-production are Michelangelo's âÂÂPietà: The Living Tableauâ and âÂÂHabakkuk: The Living TableauâÂÂ, based on Donatello's sculpture (in post-production).
All four of Acosta's Tableaus are stand-alone sequences, in addition to being included in his next feature film, The Last Supper â A Divine Prophecy.
While the head of Crewe Films in the late 1960s, Acosta settled in Bruges, Belgium. He received a spiritual initiation from Swami Muktananda, becoming Jivanmukta Swami Ganapati. A small spiritual/meditation community developed around his teachings and experiences during his time away from the secular world. In 1987 he established the first Siddha Shiva Yoga Center located in Ghent, Belgium. Additional centers were subsequently opened in New York, NY, Escondido, California, and Rome, Italy.
He returned to Rome on March 19 and 20, 2013 for the newly elected Pope Francis' Papal Inaugural Mass and celebrations. During a meeting between spiritual leaders held by Pope Francis in the Apostolic Palace, Ganapati gifted the new pontiff with a silver bas-relief of âÂÂThe Last Supper.âÂÂ
March 19, 2015, Ganapati spoke at the European Parliament during the Religions for Peace - Global Network of Religions for Children presentation.
April 28, 2015, Ganapati, plus 100 dignitaries and spiritual leaders, attended Pope Francis' Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity. The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Humanity.
Ganapati reunited with Pope Francis at the Interfaith Prayer Service at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum held on September 25, 2015 as well the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy for international spiritual leaders on September 20, 2016.
On September 28, 2024 Ganapati was reunited with Pope Francis during the pontiff's Apostolic Journey to Belgium. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels invited Ganapati to install his full-size replica of Michelangelo's Pietà(commissioned in Rome) and his Maria Santissima Bambina statuette in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a.k.a. Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cà Âur, as a welcome gift to Pope Francis.