Mormon Movie director and producer Xan Aranda joins WBEZ 91.5 Chicago‘s Jason Marck, to discuss the film on the radio for the very first time. LISTEN HERE
An incredible 25 days plus 342 generous Backers, and the next phase of Mormon Movie is now funded! THANK YOU to all who supported us. While feature-length documentaries do not cost $25k, this funding is crucial to forward movement of project. We are exhausted, encouraged, excited – and ready to make this film.
We’re honored Mormon Movie has been selected indieWIRE Project of the Day:
“If you’d told me 16 years ago (after I’d just left the Mormon church) that I’d someday intimately engage the religion within a documentary, AND direct that film with the same people who’d just produced Hoop Dreams, I’d have called you crazy. Ideas for Mormon Movie emerged after Christmas a few years ago. As a gift for my siblings, I’d ordered VHS copies of a film my mother starred in at 19 years old. We laughed over the film’s B-Movie qualities, but I had a lot of questions about how and why that film was made. And, here we are.” – Xan Aranda, Director/Producer
We’ve just launched the Kickstarter campaign and hope you’ll consider donating to the film! Every lil bit adds up, helps a lot. Most of what you see below was shot nearly a year ago. Get us back out on the road! CLICK HERE to see the Kickstarter campaign
Family/Cinema .. Storytelling/Utah
Martyrdom/Mexico .. Exile/Eternity .. Faith/America
Inspired by religious educational films her mother starred in while a student at Brigham Young University during the 1960s, director Xan Aranda (Andrew Bird: Fever Year) revisits her ancestral religion through the lens of two Mormon classics: a black-and-white Western portraying an historic clash between Mormon colonists and Pancho Villa in Mexico, and a jewel-toned yet tragic cautionary tale about marriage and doubt. As deeper threads of LDS beliefs are revealed, Xan explores the controversially clean-cut community she left behind – and her family’s spiritual fate beyond death.
Documentary in production with Kartemquin Films.
Estimated release: 2014 | Estimated length: 80 min.
