Richard Dutcher leaves Mormon cinema and Mormonism

Entertainment Blog Posts Powered by BlogBurst Entertainment News Reuters.com

Richard Dutcher leaves Mormon cinema and Mormonism

Richard Dutcher in his upcoming film “Falling.”
Richard Dutcher, whose 2000 film “God’s Army” launched a new wave of Mormon-themed theatrical features, announced two things last week: that he’s leaving Mormon cinema, and that he’s leaving the Mormon church.
This is big news to followers of LDS cinema, and small news to people who didn’t realize there was such a thing as LDS cinema. But in Utah there has been no bigger film-related story in this decade than Mormon cinema — films made by, for, and about Mormons.

The problem, as Dutcher writes in his farewell address that was published in the (Provo, Utah) Daily Herald on April 12, is that “diminishing quality has brought diminishing returns.” Many of the filmmakers that came along after Dutcher have sullied the marketplace, filling it with sub-par movies that have dramatically lessened the enthusiasm that audiences once felt for Mormon cinema. As a result, the genre has suffered, and the last batch of films have completely flopped at the box office.
Dutcher urges these filmmakers to do better, to learn from their mistakes, and to help the Mormon cinema movement live up to its potential.
“Stop trying to make movies that you think the General Authorities would like,” he writes, the general authorities being the leaders at the top of the LDS Church. “General Authorities buy very few movie tickets. Make films that the rest of the human family will enjoy. Stop being afraid that if you put something ‘edgy’ in your films then maybe you won’t get any important callings. Who cares? Someone else can be in the bishopric or the Relief Society presidency, but no one else can make those films, those very personal films, that only you can make.”
Dutcher ends his address by bowing out of Mormon cinema. He has two new movies, “Falling” and “Evil Angel,” finished and awaiting release, and evidently neither is Mormon-centric. He says he’s finished not just with Mormon cinema, but with the Mormon church:
“Mormon doctrines are powerful and beautiful and have given great meaning to my life for more than 30 years. [Dutcher’s family joined the LDS Church when he was a child, but he says his own personal conversion occurred when he was 14.] I’m sure they will always continue to inform not only my future work as a filmmaker, but also my private spiritual journey. But it does not appear that it will be my honor to make some of these films that the LDS community so desperately needs.”
He goes on to say:
“As many of you know, I am no longer a practicing member of the church. The private answers to the questions I have asked in my prayers, and in my films, have led me on an unexpected journey, a spiritual path which may ultimately prove incompatible with Mormon orthodoxy. This understanding has brought me some of the most profound surprises and also the deepest sadness of my life. It is very hard for me to say goodbye to something that I love.”