ACU’s FilmFest piqued student interest through the week before Friday night’s show.
Rather than generating artistic discussion, the topic raised was that of censorship.
One student’s film, “The Legend of the Stormin’ Mormon,” raised administrative eyebrows Oct. 25 and prompted the university to decide against allowing the film to take part in this year’s FilmFest.
The film, which passed initial screening processes for the script and movie with FilmFest, depicts a Christian with the book of Acts fighting a Mormon using the book of Mormon as his weapon of choice. Another character, G.I. Jew: the Real American Hebrew, enters the fight of stereotypes in this religious satire.
But despite the obvious satire in the film, concerns arose while uploading the film to ACU’s iTunes U site. ACU administrators, not FilmFest officials, had reservations about the film and decided it was inappropriate to be in FilmFest after discussing it.
“The primary challenge was that it ridiculed particular groups of people. A very strong feeling [of ACU] was that there were people who would be offended with it,” Michelle Morris, vice president for public relations, said. “While meant to be a satire – while meant to be funny, we felt some people would walk out [of FilmFest] and be hurt. It’s not aligned with ACU’s values.”
Doug Darby, FilmFest director, approved the movie in previous screenings and fought to keep the film in the contest. Darby said the film maintained a PG rating as determined by the Motion Picture Association of America standards and adhered to ACU policy.
“[It’s] good satire, clear it’s not derogatory,” Darby said. “Most people would look at it and understand it. There might be some people out there who would misread it.”
Darby and the students involved have pled to reach a compromise, but the university is standing firm in its decision.
When asked Wednesday if anything could change by Friday for FilmFest, Morris said no.
The Optimist staff watched the film on YouTube and agreed it is an obvious satire, but could not agree on whether the film should be included in FilmFest. Regardless of our opinions of the film, we do agree ACU should take a more active role in participating in FilmFest.
Darby jokingly related ACU’s involvement with FilmFest as that of “a 12th cousin twice removed.” “It doesn’t really interact, no financial support, no institutional support,” Darby said. “For the most part we’re on our own. It’s not even my job to do FilmFest.”
If ACU supported FilmFest as it should, with financial and administrative help, situations like this could be avoided. ACU must take ownership of FilmFest to help create more defined guidelines and policies to ensure students understand the rules more clearly at the beginning stages.
The university has the right to deem films inappropriate for FilmFest. The students just need to know what “inappropriate” is – before they clock in countless hours and lose the chance to participate at all.
