By Sarah Light
Two months have passed since controversial director Michael Moore came to Orem, but his visit is still bringing conversation to the table.
Steve Greenstreet, 25, a BYU student majoring in film, is putting the finishing touches on a documentary he made with a group of Utah Valley State College students surrounding the events of the controversy. The film, which is titled ?This Divided State,? will make its premiere Feb. 4 where all of the events began: UVSC.
In October, UVSC?s student leaders paid Moore $60,000 to speak at the college. The revenue from the ticket sales paid for $25,000, leaving UVSC with the remaining $35,000, a price that brought much debate.
Greenstreet, who has been involved with making documentaries for four years, said the project started out as part of another documentary that he has been shooting for two years on Utah culture. As the events began to unfold, he said he knew the story was large enough to be its own documentary.
?I had an intuition that things were going to be controversial and that a lot of people were going to be upset by Michael Moore?s speech, so I just knew to start rolling cameras and to see what happens,? he said.
?I honestly didn?t expect half of what had happened.?
Phil Gordon, professor and chair of the communications department at UVSC who helped facilitate the project, said the film started as part of a class project for the UVSC students involved. The students had wanted to shoot a reality TV show, but had switched their agenda when the Moore events broke in class, he said.
?Students realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,? he said.
Although he had started off presenting a documentary simply on Moore, Greenstreet said throughout the months of the controversy, he shifted the focus of the story several times.
?The biggest challenge was trying to keep up with this huge monster that grew out of Michael Moore?s visit,? he said.
The story ended up transforming into one that showed the change that happened to the UVSC students, he said. The film also portrays the telephone messages, death threats and bribes that took place before the event.
?That?s all on camera,? he said. ?We got that as it happened.?
Ellen Quist, 19, production manager for the film, said the group interviewed many people including local political leaders, student government leaders, students, Sean Hannity and UVSC?s President William Sederburg.
?It?s been amazing watching the campus really come alive,? she said.
Greenstreet said the most rewarding part of the experience is happening right now as he is editing the film.
?Now, as I put the film together, I see a community who, on both sides, stood up to the plate and expressed their views and became educated,? he said. ?I?m very proud of those students, those parents, those teachers and all those in the community who did that. It paints a great image of Utah.?
Gordon, who said the project has helped draw him closer to his students, said he thinks the documentary will be good for the college.
?Students have gotten a lot out of the project,? Gordon said. ?They?re putting together something that will have historic, academic, and cultural value.?
He said he hopes people appreciate it when it is finished.
Greenstreet also said he hopes the film can help people reflect on how the nation has become so divided, which led him to the title for the documentary.
?There are reasons to why we?re divided, and I think this film shows a few of these reasons,? he said.
The film will premiere at 8 p.m. in UVSC?s Ragan Theater. It will also be shown at movie theaters in the area. For more information, go to www.thisdividedstate.com.