User:Cstickel(byu)/sandbox/Mormon cinema notes-3

"Lights. Camera. Prayer. A Mini-Hollywood Grows in Utah," The New York Times, Elizabeth A. Harris ✔
✔
 * "there is not an R-rating in sight." ✔
 * The Church owns a studio in Goshen, Utah called the Motion Picture Studio South Campus that contains an outdoor re-creation of Jerusalem
 * There are well-known actors within the Mormon subgenre, such as Kirby Heyborne ✔
 * In the fall of 2019, the church began to release its series of videos depicting events from the Book of Mormon
 * Much unlike Hollywood sets, group prayers are said before beginning work on site
 * In Utah, there is plenty of contract work to be done for actors and set designers, but it isn't usually very profitable

"What happened to the wave of Mormon movies?" Deseret News, Jim Bennett ✔

 * The Singles Ward was "the first major LDS comedy" ✔
 * Its/Halestorm's follow-up, The Home Teachers, was not nearly as successful ✔


 * Mormon actor Jim Bennett writes: "I think the hunger [for LDS films] is still there but the novelty has worn off. At first, it was enough just to be a Mormon movie. But now, the movie has to actually be good. The audience will reward quality, but it will take better material to get them interested. " ✔

"Mormon Cinema, a Growing Indie Scene," NPR, Howard Berkes ✔

 * "distinctly Mormon films targeting Mormon audiences have played in multiplexes coast to coast." ✔
 * Both The Singles Ward and God's Army were financially successful, relative to the size of the target audience ✔
 * Brigham City was praised by critics but not audiences ✔
 * The WWII drama Saints and Soldiers has gained recognition at multiple film festivals ✔

"A new twist on Mormon cinema: 'The Next Door' goes neo-noir," Daily Herald, Derrick Clements ✔

 * Both God's Army and The Other Side of Heaven depicted Mormon missionaries from the standpoint of dramatic storytelling rather than proselyting
 * The Saratov Approach told a missionary story from a different perspective as well: that of a thriller ✔
 * "A large number of LDS comedies in the early- and mid-2000s poked fun at the faith without offering much insight."
 * BYU film students have made projects that fall into the category of Mormon cinema, such as Barrett Burgin's short film "The Next Door."

"Where you can celebrate 20 years of Mormon cinema," Fox 13 ✔

 * The 2020 LDS Film Festival marked 20 years of Mormon cinema—20 years since the release of Richard Dutcher's God's Army, the film credited with starting the movement ✔

"The Lost Mormon Film: One Hundred Years of Mormonism," Salt Lake Magazine, Lynn Kenneth Packer ✔

 * One Hundred Years of Mormonism (1913) was the church's response to the dissemination of anti-Mormon attitudes through film at the time
 * It was produced by a company in California, the Ellaye Motion Picture Company
 * Spencer W. Kimball called for Mormon filmmakers to create "masterpiece[s] which would live forever" in 1978 ✔

"Looking back: Ten films show the best from 'Mormon Cinema'," The Salt Lake Tribune, Sean P. Means ✔

 * use this as an external link, I think ✔

"Doc Films explores new frontier with film series on Mormon cinema," The University of Chicago Chronicle, Josh Schonwald ✔

 * Doc Films, a student film society at the University of Chicago, hosted a Mormon film series entitled "Mormons! Pro, Anti, and Absurdist Mormon Cinema" in 2007 ✔

"Mormon filmmakers hoping Utah can be a wholesome Hollywood," The Seattle Times, Debbie Hummel

 * Kurt Hale and Dave Hunter founded Halestorm Entertainment, a company focused on making and distributing Mormon movies, in 2001 ✔
 * Halestorm's series of movies released in the early 2000s kept production costs low by filming in Utah or nearby Arizona and Idaho ✔
 * taking advantage of the variety of Western landscapes those states offer
 * "While Halestorm will remain true to its family friendly ethic, it won’t monitor what other film producers want to do. “To have a censor board to read scripts and approve productions, that would not only be damaging to us, it would be damaging to the state of Utah,” Hunter said."

"Mormon cinema is on a mission for profits," Tampa Bay Times, C. G. Wallace ✔

 * These independent Mormon films have been described as having "a 1950s sensibility about them" ✔
 * In the Mormon-centric comedies of the early 2000s, "self-deprecating humor" abounds ✔
 * After the advent of Mormon cinema (marked as the year 2000 with the release of God's Army), Mormon filmmaker Richard Dutcher and reviewers Sean P. Means and Thomas Baggaley expressed concerns over the way the subgenre was headed; they worried about directors and production companies relying too heavily on Mormon-centric humor and the newness of the subgenre instead of producing quality films with worthwhile plotlines ✔

"Will Swenson talks Jerry Springer and Mormon movies," Newsday, Joseph V. Amodio ✔

 * "We made the movie (“The Singles Ward”) and it was a massive success. Like we’ve learned with “Black Panther” — representation matters. People want to see themselves on-screen. And there are a ton of Mormons out there." ✔
 * He directed the movie Sons of Provo ✔

"Big-Screen Religion Mormon Filmmakers Balance Faith With Their Hopes for Secular Appeal," The Washington Post, Michael Alison Chandler ✔

 * The Singles Ward (2002) was HaleStorm Entertainment's first film
 * By 2006, (Kurt) Hale and (Dave) Hunter discovered that the enthusiasm for Mormon-centric movies had died down quite a bit, so they pivoted by rebranding a part of their company as "Stone Five Studios" and releasing their next comedy, Church Ball, with less references to religion and LDS culture. ✔
 * Attendance at the LDS film festival more than doubled at the event's fifth year ✔
 * Richard Dutcher has said: "If Mormons will let other people tell their stories, they will end up with something very far from reality,"
 * God's Army had a nationwide theatrical release
 * "And then there's Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller, who has put millions of dollars behind a series of movies called "The Work and the Glory" that tell the early history of the Mormon Church." ✔
 * Some Mormon filmmakers approach the industry by focusing on the more universal aspects of religion in general, while others argue that films with distinctly Mormon characteristics have the potential to appeal to general audiences. ✔
 * Mormon filmmaker Tasha Oldham says: "We're still waiting for our Mormon version of 'Our Big Fat Greek Wedding.' "

"Out of the picture," The Los Angeles Times, Chris Lee

 * Richard Dutcher has earned the title of "the father of modern Latter-day Saint cinema" ✔
 * With God's Army, Dutcher set out to improve the way Mormons were depicted in film. "At that point, the representation of Mormons on TV and in movies had been pretty negative -- it was all polygamy and crazy people, really extreme and marginal … One of my main impulses was to portray Mormons as real people.” ✔
 * But some Mormon moviegoers disapproved of Dutcher's follow-up to God's Army, a film entitled States of Grace, for a "not altogether positive depiction of Mormons" ✔

"'Meet the Mormons' Proves the Box Office Power of Faith-Based Audiences," The Hollywood Reporter, Paul Bond

 * Meet the Mormons, a church-produced documentary about the lives of a handful of Latter-day Saints, was released theatrically around the U.S. and earned $2.5 million in its first weekend