What Harris saw, and shot, in Beaver, became a short documentary, "The Beaver Kid." Years later, when Harris tried his luck at Hollywood, he retold the story twice in short-film form.
Griffiths, fascinated with the station's helicopter, struck up a conversation with Harris and invited him to check out Griffiths' upcoming talent show in Beaver, Utah. Harris, working in the late '70s at KUTV, once met Richard LaVon Griffiths, aka "Groovin' Gary," in the parking lot.
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"He said all you need to do is get a camera and make a movie," Besser said.īesser has made that movie, "Beaver Trilogy Part IV," which examines how a chance encounter Harris had in a TV station parking lot changed the director's life. Later, Besser took filmmaking classes from Harris at the now-defunct Utah Film & Video Center. "It's almost like he's more powerful in prison."įor Brad Besser, the road to Sundance started when he saw Trent Harris' oddball comedy "Ruben and Ed," as an eighth-grader - and how he and his Brighton High classmates would quote such lines as "My cat can eat a whole watermelon." "The biggest question is: Why is this still going on, five years after was arrested?," Berg said. "It takes them like seconds to know someone's in town," Berg said, adding that seeing the white pickup trucks of the FLDS security, "The God Squad," was intimidating. "I found Warren Jeffs to be a very interesting character," said Berg, who received an Oscar nomination for her 2006 film "Deliver Us From Evil," about the sex-abuse scandal among Catholic priests.īerg said Jeffs' crimes, like those of the Catholic priests, are examples of "systemic abuse … the relationship between power and manipulation, followers and innocent victims."īerg has ventured to the twin communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where many of Jeffs' followers still reside.
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Her movie "Prophet's Prey" looks at Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - and how he, even while serving a prison sentence for sexual assault, wields influence over his followers. "That was the basis for what inspired the story," Vainuku said.Īnother Utah connection led Vainuku and Cohn to work together: Geralyn Dreyfous, founder of the Utah Film Center and executive producer of the Oscar-winning "Born Into Brothels," paired them up.ĭreyfous, Vainuku said, "couldn't believe it was a story right in her backyard."ĭocumentarian Amy Berg found a different story in Utah's backyard. His cousin, Joe Katoa, was an all-state linebacker in 1997, but he later turned to crime and ended up in prison.
Vainuku played two seasons as a linebacker for Highland High. The boys deal with such issues as extreme poverty, gang influence and family pressures to succeed on the field. "In Football We Trust" follows four teen boys from Utah's Pacific Islander community as they navigate the world of high-school football. "We spent five years in the Salt Lake community. "That's what's so special for us as filmmakers from Salt Lake City," said the film's producer and co-director, Erika Cohn. "It's pretty awesome," said Tony Vainuku, director of the documentary "In Football We Trust," who grew up a block away from Salt Lake Community College's The Grand Theatre - which will be a Sundance venue for the first time this year. The Hesses are Salt Lake City residents best known for their 2004 Sundance debut, "Napoleon Dynamite." The Premieres slate, also announced Monday, includes a Utah-made comedy: "Don Verdean," directed by Jared Hess, and written by Hess and his wife, Jerusha. The documentaries deal with such far-ranging topics as the appeal of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, the effect of football on Utah's Pacific Islander community, the state of American education and the career of Utah maverick filmmaker Trent Harris.
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