DiscussMormonism Triumphs Again as "Witnesses" Garners Top Prize

[Doctor Scratch]

Congratulations, everyone! As recently announced on "Sic et Non," the film that many here helped to edit--i.e., Mormon Interpreter Presents: The Witnesses--has managed to win an award at the LDS Film Festival:

I’m pleased to report that the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses theatrical film won first prize on Saturday night in the Feature Film category at the twentieth annual LDS Film Festival.

Many kudos to Everybody Wang Chung, to Tom, to Dean Robbers, to Doctor CamNC4Me, Lem, and all of the other kind folks who donated time and energy into criticizing the endless silly errors in the movie. By providing this invaluable criticism (free of charge, no less!), the folks here at DiscussMormonism.com undoubtedly contributed to the award. I assume that the "POW!" noise was edited out of the scene where Joseph Smith clobbers his pursuer with the Gold Plates (or did they cut that scene entirely?). And did they perform some CGI "surgery" on the wireless mic that was clipped to the character's pants?

It apparently doesn't matter! The award was handed out last night, and all the folks here who made that possible deserve to rest on their laurels. Well done!

Meanwhile, the Mopologists are openly salivating at the prospect of tithing dollars being diverted into Mopologetic coffers:

I attended a YSA Stake High Council meeting last week; one of the activities they want to have is to book a theater for several showings of the Witnesses movie for our YSAs. I think that's very good use of Stake funds!

Fantastic!

If money-making isn't the goal, then why not screen the movie for free?

[Bret Ripley]

Competition was fierce in this year's Feature Film category, but 'The Witnesses' handily beat pre-screening favorites 'Thunderbirds: The Kolob Gambit' ...



... and 'Joseph and Martin: Pals 4Ever'.

[Lem]

Has anyone mentioned where the money from these screenings will go? Or are they offering the screenings at cost? When the original million or so of donations were moved out of the Interpreter non-profit, they were moved into an LLC that handled all the movie making issues, if I remember correctly, NOT a non-profit.

Eta: oops question answered, apparently. From the OP link

It’s not that we’re obsessed with money. Whether Witnesses becomes the new Avatar or completely tanks at the box office, I will earn precisely the same amount from it: $0.00. We have no investors whom we need to satisfy. Our budget has come entirely from donors, who don’t expect their donations back, let alone to earn a healthy profit. Moreover, our plan is to take any revenues that accrue to Witnesses and to put them into at least one as yet unannounced future movie project.

[Moksha]

I attended a YSA Stake High Council meeting last week; one of the activities they want to have is to book a theater for several showings of the Witnesses movie for our YSAs. I think that's very good use of Stake funds!

Having Stakes or Multi-Stake regions book blocks of seats has been a past method of insuring a good reception. When the gold in first-run showings has been panned, I hope this makes its way to KBYU and eventually Youtube for wider distribution.



by the way, does Shades have it set up so that quotes from Dr. Peterson cannot appear on the screen? Why do that?

[Tom]

Dr. Scratch is too modest to mention his role in the film’s award, but I will. I trust his name appears in the film’s credits as a special adviser.

I couldn’t risk catching COVID-19 to attend an award ceremony with 300 others in attendance, but I am deeply gratified to hear the news of the award. I must admit, though, that it pains me to report that The Santa Box, which came in second in the feature film category, upset Witnesses to win the audience choice award in the same category. (I am not making this up.) That stings quite a bit.

[Bret Ripley]

... it pains me to report that The Santa Box, which came in second in the feature film category, upset Witnesses to win the audience choice award in the same category. (I am not making this up.) That stings quite a bit.

That is a blow, to be sure. I hadn't heard of this upstart The Santa Box so I poked around a bit and noticed it has a rating of 8.8/10 on IMDB. Sadly, IMDB does not yet seem to know anything about The Witnesses.

(It was only after I closed the IMDB tab that I remembered the recent 'Midley' festschrift incident; I should perhaps have been searching for something like 'The Wintesses'.)

[Lem]

... it pains me to report that The Santa Box, which came in second in the feature film category, upset Witnesses to win the audience choice award in the same category. (I am not making this up.) That stings quite a bit.

That is a blow, to be sure. I hadn't heard of this upstart The Santa Box so I poked around a bit and noticed it has a rating of 8.8/10 on IMDB. Sadly, IMDB does not yet seem to know anything about The Witnesses.

(It was only after I closed the IMDB tab that I remembered the recent 'Midley' festschrift incident; I should perhaps have been searching for something like 'The Wintesses'.)

'the Witless' may be another viable alternative.

[Doctor Scratch]

Dr. Scratch is too modest to mention his role in the film’s award, but I will. I trust his name appears in the film’s credits as a special adviser.

I don't know about that, Tom. In cases like this, I tend to insist on an Alan Smithee-esque attribution so as not to taint my scholarly reputation at the B.H. Roberts Chair.

I couldn’t risk catching COVID-19 to attend an award ceremony with 300 others in attendance, but I am deeply gratified to hear the news of the award. I must admit, though, that it pains me to report that The Santa Box, which came in second in the feature film category, upset Witnesses to win the audience choice award in the same category. (I am not making this up.) That stings quite a bit.

Yes, indeed. I would imagine that "Witnesses" will continue to be dogged by The Santa Box in a variety of ways. You can actually eat a bundt cake. An award plaque, on the other hand, will just sit on your mantle, gathering dust. (Could it be true that the bundt cake is far, far better than the mantle?)

All that said, if anyone is interested in watching the rather tedious and predictable LDS Film Fest Awards Show in its entirety, it's available here. The award for "Witnesses" gets accepted at around the 44:00 mark: "A big thanks from three bald guys," is the closing rejoinder.

You're welcome.

[Gadianton]

who donated time and energy into criticizing the endless silly errors in the movie. By providing this invaluable criticism (free of charge, no less!), the folks here at DiscussMormonism.com undoubtedly contributed to the award.

Indeed, professor, you must be right.

If you're anything like me, then you vested a solid block of time this weekend into Netflix's new series, The Age of Sumurai. Quite horrifying, I have to say, but I was reminded of Mopologetics in several places. Most relevant to your observation, professor, is toward the latter part of the series, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi had seized control of Japan, he ordered his surplus of Generals with little to do to dominate Korea. But this battle wasn't a very wise one given the difficult logistics. Hideyoshi had remained behind himself, safely in Japan, and so he relied on the reports of his generals to stay appraised of the battle. Like certain apologists, Hideyoshi had little tolerance for bad news or criticism, and so his generals falsified their reports to make it seem as if they were winning.

I think you see where this is going. If it were up to the bootlicks who heap praise onto the senior apologists no matter what they do, then the film would have been submitted with all kinds of problems as nobody dared to criticize it. As it was, the film's producer was saved by his own inability to silence his opposition from afar.

[Doctor Scratch]

who donated time and energy into criticizing the endless silly errors in the movie. By providing this invaluable criticism (free of charge, no less!), the folks here at DiscussMormonism.com undoubtedly contributed to the award.

Indeed, professor, you must be right.

If you're anything like me, then you vested a solid block of time this weekend into Netflix's new series, The Age of Sumurai. Quite horrifying, I have to say, but I was reminded of Mopologetics in several places.

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find time to watch the show, Dr. Robbers, though I don't doubt that the parallels abound. For example, were there ever times where funds were "siphoned" back to the Shogun? (The Mopologists were recently cracking jokes about "shady lawyers" and "smoking cigars," and things of that nature.) Lem very correctly observed that there has been very little transparency surrounding the funding of "Witnesses."

If it were up to the bootlicks who heap praise onto the senior apologists no matter what they do, then the film would have been submitted with all kinds of problems as nobody dared to criticize it. As it was, the film's producer was saved by his own inability to silence his opposition from afar.

Very true, and what you're saying very neatly explains why the articles on the Mormon Interpreter blog are so routinely awful.