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A close friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous recently saw in the shadow of the temple his story follows
In October, I was fortunate to attend the Portland, Oregon, screening of the movie, In the Shadow of the Temple. http://www.intheshadowofthetemple.com The screening was hosted by the producers, Karen Di Millia and Dennis Lavery. Prior to the screening Dennis and Karen spoke for 10 minutes and explained how they started this project. After the screening they took questions and answers for roughly 30 minutes.
Lavery and DeMillia, who are not–and never have been–LDS, originally planned to make a movie about people who had left the religion of their youth. They attended a meeting of the Portland Humanist Society, explained their project, and asked if anyone had such stories they would be willing to share. In the course of discussing the project with members of the society, they were told that who they really needed to talk to was Sue Emmett, who had left the LDS church. After talking with Sue and others with whom she put them in touch, they decided to re-focus their project on the experience of those who have left the LDS church. Continue reading…
Hear me out.
I was talking with a friend recently about addictions. Things like alcohol, caffeine, meth, and heroin (among many other substances) all seem to rob the addict of their free will to some extent. At some point in the conversation we started talking about mythology, and he mentioned how vampires could be viewed metaphorically as heroin addicts. (There is even a movie with the vampire/heroin metaphor, “The Addiction” staring Christopher Walken as a vampire who abstains from blood through fasting and meditation.) Continue reading…
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When I served a mission in eastern Canada in the early 90s, there were many things I was grateful for (warm boots, wool suits, fairly normal food). But above all, I was grateful that I was sent to a region with very few black people, as I was not looking forward to having to defend something in the Church’s past that had deeply troubled even a relatively immature teenager with a limited knowledge of Church history and doctrine.
Continue reading…
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Tom Hanks is a beloved actor to many Mormons for his family-friendly roles and everyman quality. Yet, his recent negative remarks (and hasty retraction) calling Mormons who supported Prop 8 “unAmerican,” and his role as executive producer on Big Love which is about to air the most sacred Mormon ritual on television begs the question: Does Tom Hanks hate Mormons? Continue reading…
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Many consider The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene to be the quintessential Great Catholic Novel: a book written about faith and doubt with great courage. So far, no one has written what one would call “The Great Mormon Novel.” Continue reading…

What do Mormons and Muslims have in common? A lot more than you might think. And a popular sitcom about Muslims living in a small Canadian prairie town offers Mormons good suggestions about how best to handle being misunderstood and sometimes mistreated by the “outside world”.
Continue reading…
Anyone who has ever set foot in Deseret Book should recognize the name Chris Heimerdinger. His signature novel, “Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites,” was the first in what became a sizable collection of LDS fiction targeted primarily at a young Mormon market.
Now, he steps into the film making arena with his new feature film: “Passage to Zarahemla.” Chris uses his time-tested narrative device of modern characters converging in one way or another with scriptural settings and events to tell the story of Kerra and Brock, two young people who somehow collide with a parallel universe which brings them into contact with the ancient world of the Nephites, Lamanites, and Gadianton Robbers. This movie seems to find its place in an as-of-yet unfilled void in the LDS film collection, as explained by Sean P. Means of the Salt Lake Tribune:
“Chris Heimerdinger breaks Mormon Cinema’s green Jell-O mold in ‘Passage to Zarahemla,’ ambitiously transposing settings from the Book of Mormon into a stimulating action-adventure drama.”
As a treat for us at Mormon Matters, Chris Heimerdinger agreed to record an interview, in which he tells his story, takes us through his time and experiences as a novelist, describes some of the processes he went through in producing this film, and gives us his take on how it fits within the scope of LDS cinema and culture. Throughout the interview, several noteworthy points come through: Continue reading…
In this episode we are excited to have Rosalynde Welch as our producer/moderator!!! The 2 main topics are:
- A review of Richard Dutcher’s “States of Grace” with special guest moderator Brian Gibson (major spoiler alert for those who still plan to see the movie!!!!). Otherwise, a great analysis.
- A discussion of a recent New York Times Magazine article entitled, “Orthodox Paradox” with panelist David King Landrith (DKL).
One program note:
- Near the end, Rosalynde mentions a novel “The Ladies Auxiliary.” Just as an FYI, the author of this book is Tova Mirvis.
Thanks again to all who participated!!!
Please let us know your thoughts!