Film: IndieWire on LDS film

IndieWire has posted an article on the world of LDS cinema.

The title of the article -- Latter-day Cinema: Like Everyone Else, Looking for the Next "Napolean Dynamite" -- is interesting because it reframes the narrative of LDS film a bit. Prior to ND's success, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was usually the break-out hit that reporters would say that LDS filmmakers are looking to as a hope, model and inspiration.

Most interesting bit:

"The upsurge in LDS cinema favors the presentation of good-humored and family-friendly offerings like 'Napoleon Dynamite' over a didactic approach to Mormon theology. Misconceived efforts such as 2003's 'The Book of Mormon, Volume 1: The Journey,' which recouped only half of its $2 million production budget in limited release, have been eschewed for micro-budget pictures like Scott Anderson's missionary slice-of-life 'The Best Two Years,' over which distributors Excel and HaleStorm engaged in what may have unofficially been Mormon cinema's first and only bidding war."

Welcome news:

"Simpson and Hale represented Excel at this year's Sundance Festival, prowling perhaps for the next "Napoleon Dynamite" or another unheralded crossover candidate. Hale said he has his eye on Greg Whiteley's documentary 'New York Doll,' about the late punk bassist (and converted Mormon) Arthur 'Killer' Kane. Hale would not comment, however, about the status of distribution negotiations between Excel and Whiteley."

And after following the grosses through LDS Film's weekly report, this news about "The Work and the Glory" doesn't come as a surprise:

"But faithfully adapting Lund's work demanded high-end art direction and costume design recalling upstate New York's Mormon communities of the early 19th century -- the cost of which Excel executives say may be impossible to recoup on its 100-screen wide release, considering both the film's narrow crossover appeal and Excel's limited marketing budget."