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Update on "Witnesses" Film


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Here:

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Witnesses_OneSheet_OfficialWeb_MegaPlex.

The publicity campaign for the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses dramatic film is now underway.  Pandemic willing, we anticipate a theatrical premiere for the film in the summer of 2021.

...  Witnesses will concentrate on the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon — who are shown, from left to right, in the movie poster above: Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, with Joseph Smith on the right hand side.  

...

If you go to witnessesfilm.com, you can now view the new Witnesses movie trailer.  There is also a button that will allow you to download the official Witnesses movie poster.  Please feel free to do so, and to share it on social media.  We are trying to create a grassroots publicity campaign for this effort.  Note also a button marked Bring Witnesses to Your City.  If you click on it, you will discover that we’re inviting you to help us to get this film onto as many screens in as many places as we can — both along the so-called “Mormon corridor” and, if and to the extent possible, beyond it.  If you sign up, Purdie Distribution, which is highly experienced in such matters, will assist.  They know how to do this; the “work load” for those who sign up, if it can even be called that, will I think be minimal.  However, in order to persuade theater owners to allot valuable movie screens to Witnesses, they need to have confidence that there is enough local interest that there will be ticket sales.  They simply need to be assured that there is.  (And then, of course, we want you all to go see it!)

In connection with this initiative and at my request back when our project was initially being launched, Professors Thomas G. Alexander, James B. Allen, Richard Lloyd Anderson, and Richard L. Bushman provided the following endorsements of the importance of the Book of Mormon witnesses.  They are still important and worthy of reflection:

Imagine the publication and distribution of the Book of Mormon without the testimony of the witnesses.  If there were none, Joseph Smith would have had to reply on his own word that he translated the plates.  Many, perhaps most, people would probably have rejected the word of an uneducated farm boy.  Joseph had enough difficulty even with the witnesses convincing others of the truthfulness of his story.  Other people including the eight witnesses saw the plates, but only the three witnesses saw them in the possession of the heavenly messenger who delivered them to Joseph.   The Lord asked them to testify to the truthfulness of Joseph’s ministry, which they did.  Most important, during their lifetimes all three witnesses left the church.  Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris returned to the fold, but David Whitmer remained in Richmond, Missouri, estranged from Mormonism throughout the remainder of his life.  Nevertheless, in spite of rumors to the contrary, all three continued to insist on the truth of their witness.

Thomas G. Alexander, Ph.D., Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Western History, Brigham Young University; former president of the Mormon History Association

The testimonies of the three witnesses is the closest we come to rational evidence for Mormon belief.  Three men attest to a sensory encounter with the gold plates and a divine being.  In an age of skepticism, when all religious belief is under attack, their statement becomes more relevant every day.

Richard L. Bushman, Ph.D., Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Emeritus at Columbia University; former Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University; former president of the Mormon History Association

The testimonies of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon make Joseph Smith’s account much harder to dismiss than it would otherwise be.  Plainly, since others announced that they, too, had seen and “hefted” and heard, this means that, whatever else it was, Joseph’s account must reflect more than merely private imagination or simple personal dishonesty.  If the witnesses are judged to be reliable men of good character, their declarations pose a serious challenge to anyone who considers the claims of the Restoration.

James B. Allen, Ph.D., Lemuel Hardison Redd Jr. Professor Emeritus of Western History, Brigham Young University; former Assistant Church Historian, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; former president of the Mormon History Association

Thousands of authorized copies  of the Book of Mormon have reprinted the signed experience of the eleven Book or Mormon witnesses, Three who described that an angel held and turned the individual plates of an ancient New World Bible and Eight who narrated how they were given an ordinary experience of “hefting” the record and examining the carefully crafted characters on it. About 200 reported interviews with  these eleven are collected, which report the constant affirmation of these witnesses of seeing and lifting this historic, prophetic record, with its independent account of Christ visiting America.

Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926-2018), J.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University

We’re just at the beginning of our publicity campaign for this ambitious film project, and there is much to be done.  I hope that at least some of you will be interested in helping us.

And please be assured that — whatever my most unreasonable and implacable anonymous critics are likely to say (and they’re absolutely guaranteed to have plenty of negative and accusatory things to say) — I’m not trying to press you into service in order to line my own pockets.  I will not profit so much as a dime from this project, neither directly or indirectly, whether it bombs financially or turns a modest profit or turns into the greatest movie blockbuster of all time.  In fact, if Witnesses and its attendant projects do even reasonably well, monetarily speaking, we hope to plow those funds right back into further filmmaking.  This is a powerful medium, and we hope to reach hearts and minds — and souls — by means of it.

Pretty interesting stuff!  "Mormon Cinema" had a decent start back with Richard Dutcher's God's Army, released in 2000.  Nevertheless, it has still not fully found it's footing in the 20 years since then.

Witnesses will fall into that category of cinema that is intended to do more than simply entertain, but also to inform, edify, and elicit curiosity and further discussion.  I am very much looking forward to it.

Here are a few other films I value as being similarly interesting to watch and also thought-provoking:

  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • 12 Angry Men
  • Judgment at Nuremberg
  • Inherit the Wind
  • Ben-Hur (1959)
  • Amazing Grace (2006)
  • It's a Wonderful Life
  • Fiddler on the Roof
  • 17 Miracles
  • The Shawshank Redemption

I hope Witnesses turns out to be good.

Thanks,

-Smac

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I'm a nerd when it comes to LDS movies and I think I've seen nearly all of them. "Home Teacher" is one I loved but I know it didn't get the best reviews, I think it was the last scene with the lady and her cat. The most recent one I saw was "Jane and Emma", pretty sure I'll see the "Witnesses" one and positive it'll play in Utah. 

Edited by Tacenda
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4 minutes ago, bluebell said:

Has he made other non-church movies?  He kind of fell off the radar after he stopped with the church movie stuff.

I see he had a role in Skinwalkers that came out in 2013, but with a quick search I'm not seeing anything past that.

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Napoleon Dynamite. Best ever. 

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On 1/8/2021 at 7:20 AM, smac97 said:

Here:

Pretty interesting stuff!  "Mormon Cinema" had a decent start back with Richard Dutcher's God's Army, released in 2000.  Nevertheless, it has still not fully found it's footing in the 20 years since then.

Witnesses will fall into that category of cinema that is intended to do more than simply entertain, but also to inform, edify, and elicit curiosity and further discussion.  I am very much looking forward to it.

Here are a few other films I value as being similarly interesting to watch and also thought-provoking:

  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • 12 Angry Men
  • Judgment at Nuremberg
  • Inherit the Wind
  • Ben-Hur (1959)
  • Amazing Grace (2006)
  • It's a Wonderful Life
  • Fiddler on the Roof
  • 17 Miracles
  • The Shawshank Redemption

I hope Witnesses turns out to be good.

Thanks,

-Smac

The Elephant Man. Life is Beautiful. 

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1 hour ago, Bernard Gui said:

Napoleon Dynamite. Best ever. 

"Are you gonna eat your tots?"

     —Napoleon Dynamite, repeated line

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8 hours ago, Kenngo1969 said:

"Are you gonna eat your tots?"

     —Napoleon Dynamite, repeated line

🤣

When my daughter-in-law visited for Christmas, they're from Idaho, we got on the subject of Napoleon Dynamite. She then pulled up a video of her in high school where a group of young women were doing Napoleon's dance on stage for a school assembly. She far out shined the rest of them. I was totally amazed, and laughed so hard, and teared up at the same time, because I'd never seen such heart in those moves. I hope I didn't make her feel bad, but she was that good. She didn't hold back. After showing us, she felt embarrassed but I hope I didn't make her feel like that. It was the best thing I'd seen for a long time. Even the other girls on stage almost stopped dancing because they were amazed with her. 

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12 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

🤣

When my daughter-in-law visited for Christmas, they're from Idaho, we got on the subject of Napoleon Dynamite. She then pulled up a video of her in high school where a group of young women were doing Napoleon's dance on stage for a school assembly. She far out shined the rest of them. I was totally amazed, and laughed so hard, and teared up at the same time, because I'd never seen such heart in those moves. I hope I didn't make her feel bad, but she was that good. She didn't hold back. After showing us, she felt embarrassed but I hope I didn't make her feel like that. It was the best thing I'd seen for a long time. Even the other girls on stage almost stopped dancing because they were amazed with her. 

+1. :)

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9 hours ago, Tacenda said:

🤣

When my daughter-in-law visited for Christmas, they're from Idaho, we got on the subject of Napoleon Dynamite. She then pulled up a video of her in high school where a group of young women were doing Napoleon's dance on stage for a school assembly. She far out shined the rest of them. I was totally amazed, and laughed so hard, and teared up at the same time, because I'd never seen such heart in those moves. I hope I didn't make her feel bad, but she was that good. She didn't hold back. After showing us, she felt embarrassed but I hope I didn't make her feel like that. It was the best thing I'd seen for a long time. Even the other girls on stage almost stopped dancing because they were amazed with her. 

My son Artisticosso painted a portrait of him in the real Napoleon uniform with his hand in the coat....one of my favorite works by him!

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1 hour ago, Bernard Gui said:

My son Artisticosso painted a portrait of him in the real Napoleon uniform with his hand in the coat....one of my favorite works by him!

It's a classic. What scene is the hand in the coat. It wasn't when he grabs the tots?

 

Edited by Tacenda
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22 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

Napoleon Dynamite. Best ever. 

I had my first tithing settlement interview with my new bishop last month. He has all the paperwork on his laptop, and as he opened it up to look, I noticed that, amongst the stickers on the lid, a Napoleon Dynamite one is in the centre. I love him even more now.

I've long argued that the most righteous Saints I know are the most individualistic and therefore the most quirky. Our bishop fits that category. He's a migrant from an ethnic group famous in these parts as rugby players, security guards and drug smugglers, but instead he has a bachelor's degree in maths and a master's in engineering and works in the aerospace industry. And loves Napoleon Dynamite!

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See Artisticosso’s painting at this gallery..first painting on the list.
https://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/10/23/cool-art-crazy-4-cult-x/

Jasinski-1.jpg

Edited by Bernard Gui
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On 1/11/2021 at 7:11 PM, Hamba Tuhan said:

I had my first tithing settlement interview with my new bishop last month. He has all the paperwork on his laptop, and as he opened it up to look, I noticed that, amongst the stickers on the lid, a Napoleon Dynamite one is in the centre. I love him even more now.

I've long argued that the most righteous Saints I know are the most individualistic and therefore the most quirky. Our bishop fits that category. He's a migrant from an ethnic group famous in these parts as rugby players, security guards and drug smugglers, but instead he has a bachelor's degree in maths and a master's in engineering and works in the aerospace industry. And loves Napoleon Dynamite!

Interesting thoughts on individuality. Could you expand?

Edited by Bernard Gui
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On 1/11/2021 at 5:31 PM, Tacenda said:

It's a classic. What scene is the hand in the coat. It wasn't when he grabs the tots?

 

See above..

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On 1/8/2021 at 7:20 AM, smac97 said:

Here:

Pretty interesting stuff!  "Mormon Cinema" had a decent start back with Richard Dutcher's God's Army, released in 2000.  Nevertheless, it has still not fully found it's footing in the 20 years since then.

Witnesses will fall into that category of cinema that is intended to do more than simply entertain, but also to inform, edify, and elicit curiosity and further discussion.  I am very much looking forward to it.

Here are a few other films I value as being similarly interesting to watch and also thought-provoking:

  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • 12 Angry Men
  • Judgment at Nuremberg
  • Inherit the Wind
  • Ben-Hur (1959)
  • Amazing Grace (2006)
  • It's a Wonderful Life
  • Fiddler on the Roof
  • 17 Miracles
  • The Shawshank Redemption

I hope Witnesses turns out to be good.

Thanks,

-Smac

I keep coming back to The Elephant Man. For me the final scene is the most moving one in cinema where John Merrick, having finally experienced friendship and human kindness, goes to meet his mother in eternity. The gospel implications are beautiful. Pairing this with Samuel Barber’ Adagio for Strings was genius. Even this brief clip still brings tears. 

 

Edited by Bernard Gui
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duplicate

Edited by Bernard Gui
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32 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

I keep coming back to The Elephant Man. For me the final scene is the most moving one in cinema where John Merrick, having finally experienced friendship and human kindness, goes to meet his mother in eternity. The gospel implications are beautiful. Pairing this with Samuel Barber’ Adagio for Strings was genius. Even this brief clip still brings tears. 

 

"Nothing will die..." - John's Mum.

Yes.  Beautiful.  Here's the scene:

I've previously cited a few other cinematic references that tap into the collective wisdom we have, deep in our heart of hearts, that this is not all that there is, that there is more, and that our relationships do, or at least can survive death.

Thanks,

-Smac

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6 hours ago, smac97 said:

"Nothing will die..." - John's Mum.

Yes.  Beautiful.  Here's the scene:

I've previously cited a few other cinematic references that tap into the collective wisdom we have, deep in our heart of hearts, that this is not all that there is, that there is more, and that our relationships do, or at least can survive death.

Thanks,

-Smac

Thanks. I thought I had linked to the scene. Apparently not. 

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