'Boys' full of humor
By John Gale
For the Deseret Morning News
Published: January 31, 2008
LOS MORMON BOYS
Directed by: Dave Lindsay, Jason Conforto
Length: 50 minutes
"Los Mormon Boys" is a documentary about a band by the same name, made up entirely of full-time LDS missionaries in Northern Argentina in the 1960s.
According to the film, the band toured the country full time, playing all over the place, and appearing on every radio and television station in the area.
The filmmakers interviewed Ronald Stone, who presided over the mission, and all the members of the band, even a couple who have since become inactive.
The documentary provides a detailed account of the band's formation and the experiences of its members . It also incorporated original recordings of the band's music throughout, which is a nice touch.
One of the strongest areas lay in the amount of humorous laugh-out-loud moments.
For example, one former member talked about the challenge to be as spiritual in the band as they would be doing normal missionary work.
"It's a little tough to be playing 'Tequila' in an enthusiastic manner," he said. "It's not like singing a hymn."
But they talk about using the song to explain the Word of Wisdom, saying that even though they sing that song, they don't actually drink any tequila or other alcohol.
The documentary is full of light-hearted moments and the tone is mostly upbeat, even as the former members reminisce about some of their challenges.
After the showing at the LDS Film Festival, the filmmakers said they originally wanted to turn the story into an actual movie but didn't have enough money, so they opted for a more cost-effective documentary.
It's just as well. The story lends itself better for a documentary format.
It's more interesting and entertaining the way it is.
Cosic's life makes interesting movie
By John Gale
For the Deseret Morning News
Published: January 31, 2008
AN OFF-COURT STORY: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KRESIMIR COSIC —
Produced by: Lindsey Jurdana
Length: 43 minutes
OREM — The documentary of Kresimir Cosic's life was informative, interesting and well done, as it explored his life on and off the basketball court, his losing battle with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma and his legacy.
The film began with a montage of Cosic's highlights, as family, friends, former teammates and even President Thomas S. Monson of the LDS Church's First Presidency talked about Cosic's basketball skills.
It was interesting to learn just how good of a player he was. He was the first European to be drafted by an NBA team. He turned down NBA offers to return to Croatia.
Considering the proliferation of European players into today's NBA that has been ongoing since the early 1990s, it was particularly informative to learn of Cosic's career from decades earlier.
As interesting as his basketball exploits were, his life off the court was even more compelling. Cosic converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while at BYU and did as much as he could to share his beliefs with others, particularly in his native Croatia.
At first, he was the only member of the church in Communist Yugoslavia, but he did a lot to change that.
It was interesting to learn that he recruited the best translator he could find to translate the "Book of Mormon" into his native language, and his translation is still the official translation for the church today.
Viewers will also be interested in getting perspective on Cosic's life from famous LDS people such as Monson, Truman G. Madsen and Hugh Nibley, as well as friends and family.
Overall, the documentary was worth watching for anyone interested in Cosic's life, and it will be particularly informative to younger viewers who don't remember Cosic's playing career.
'Stonecutter' inspiring short film
It follows struggles of man who worked on the S.L. Temple
By Sharon Haddock
Deseret Morning News
Published: January 31, 2008
ONLY A STONECUTTER —
Produced by: T.C. Christensen
Length: short
OREM — "Only a Stonecutter" tells the story of John Rowe Moyle — a park in Alpine has the same name — an early LDS pioneer whose story is one of remarkable faith and dedication.
This man came from England to Zion with his family in the Ellsworth handcart company and settled on 160 acres in Alpine.
His story revolves around his work on the Salt Lake Temple where he carved in stone the words that are painted in gold today. He didn't have a way to get to Salt Lake to do the cutting so he walked 22 miles every week for more than 20 years.
Then after his leg was amputated, as soon as he could function on the wooden leg he fashioned for himself, he resumed the weekly sojourn over Traverse Mountain, through the snow and the cold and the dark.
It's a simple story but well told, well-acted and well filmed. It's one of the short film competition entries for the 7th Annual LDS Film Festival.
One can only hope it makes its way soon into church libraries.
More than 6,500 attend '08 festival
By Sharon Haddock
Deseret Morning News
Published: January 31, 2008
OREM — LDS Film Festival founder Christian Vuissa said it several times.
"There are more people in this room than attended the festival combined our first year," he said as he surveyed a packed house on Jan. 16 at the SCERA Center for the Arts.
The first festival drew fewer than 1,000 viewers while the seventh festival ended with an attendance count of more than 6,500.
Full-length feature films such as "Forever Strong," "TAKE," "The Errand of Angels," and "Tears of a King: The Latter Days of Elvis" drew in the largest audiences while premiere documentaries such as "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons" and "The Off-Court Story of Kresimir Cosic" pulled in substantial audiences as well.
"The festival has proven again that LDS filmmaking is alive and well. We couldn't be more pleased with the program this year and the excellent films and presentations we were able to gather for a great festival," Vuissa said. "We are now already getting excited for next year."
The winners of the short film competition, 24-hour filmmaking marathon, and script competitions were announced at an informal awards ceremony Saturday night. Feature films are not in competition at the LDS Film Festival. The festival also awarded two honorary awards for special accomplishments in LDS filmmaking.
The 2008 Pioneer Award recipient is Sterling Van Wagenen, co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival and founding executive of the Sundance Institute.
The 2008 Visionary Award went to Greg Whiteley, the director of "New York Doll," for making an LDS film that strongly appeals to an LDS and general audience.
Awards in the short films competition included first place to "Der Ostwind", written and directed by Kohl Glass with visual effects by Rob Au, and second place to "The Lost Journal of Vice Marceaux" by JR Burningham. Third place went to "Butterflies" by Andy Bailey.
See the complete list of winners at:
www.ldsfilmfestival.org/08_winners.php.
