A “Witnesses” milestone

Last updated on: January 31, 2020 at 11:15 pm by Dan Peterson

A “Witnesses” milestone 2020-01-31T23:15:55-07:00 Dan Peterson

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Some of the extras on the set of Witnesses at Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts, last year.
(Photo by James Jordan)

My wife and I were quite disappointed last week, after having already delayed our tickets once, to miss out altogether on the Utah Opera’s production of Silent Night, about the famous “Christmas Truce” during the First World War. She was still too sick to go.

But we received considerable compensation on Monday night.

As some of you may perhaps be aware, I’ve been deeply involved over the past two or three years as an executive producer (with my wife) for an effort to create a theatrical film on the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, as well as a companion documentary and other related materials.

The people who are actually making the films are essentially the same folks (minus Lee Groberg, although he’s friendly) who made the Joseph Smith: American Prophet film for PBS, as well as BYU-TV’s Fires of Faith and Handel’s Messiah. The Interpreter Foundation, a 501(c)3 charitable organization of which I’m the president, is behind the effort.

With the producer and the director and their spouses, my wife and I watched the entire director’s “rough cut” of the theatrical film last night, for the very first time.

I have to admit that I went into it concerned, somewhat worried. I had seen a lot of the pieces of the product before, but I wondered whether it would hold together. What if I were disappointed? What if the product were weak? I’m pretty critical, and there has been a fair amount of disappointing Latter-day Saint filmmaking.

I was very pleased with Monday night’s showing.

Oh, there are things that still remain to be done. For example, the color and the sound need to be smoothed out. (Different cameras record differently.) Some transitions were a bit rougher than we had expected, so a few minutes of additional filming will need to be done in order to provide clearer explanations, lead-ins, and so forth. But what we saw last night is essentially what the theatrical film will be. When completed, it will likely run about 105 minutes altogether.

The accompanying documentary or docudrama remains to be created, as well as some of the attendant materials that we hope to produce. So some money still needs to be raised.

But we are far down the road, and things are looking very positive.

Thanks to all of those who have helped! I hope and I believe that you will not be disappointed. Our goal is that this project will generate conversation, and that many will be able, through it, to see how firm and historically solid the roots of the Restoration really are.

Interpreter Foundation

Witnesses

Witnesses film

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