By Jon Tollestrup
Last month marked the DVD release of the new documentary, ?This Divided State,? but for the film?s producer and director, Steven Greenstreet, telling this political tale consumed almost a year of his life and much of the money in his wallet.
Greenstreet grew up in Maryland and spent some time in Baltimore working on a couple of documentaries, and eventually moved to Utah after landing a job with Halestorm Entertainment. He enrolled at BYU to study film, but quickly dropped out when he heard Michael Moore was coming to UVSC in order to make ?This Divided State.?
Within a week, Greenstreet went from attending class and working at BYU?s video editing lab to working 12 to 14 hour days on the film. He started principal photography in early September and finished in early December with nearly 90 hours of footage.
Carving out the final 88 minute version of the film took Greenstreet three months of editing. With all the promotional work that followed, Greenstreet ended up investing a large part of the film?s nearly $65,000 budget from his own pocket and a little more than a year of his life in creating ?This Divided State.?
In an interview with The Daily Universe, Greenstreet talked about making the film and shared his thoughts about the impact the whole situation had on the community.
The Daily Universe (DU): Why did you feel this event needed to be captured on film?
At first, it seemed like the perfect combination: Michael Moore and Mormons. I knew from day-one that Michael Moore?s visit would be a source of highly charged protests and arguments, and I wanted to observe how people with opposing views got along with each other. I felt that if this historical moment was captured on video, people could later look back and analyze the pros and cons of Moore?s visit. I want ?This Divided State? to serve as a constant reminder to the citizens of Orem and Provo ? and the nation for that matter ? that they have a lot of room for social improvement.
Q: Did you realize long before that this was going to be something controversial that would make a great documentary, or was it after the controversy erupted that you had put together a film crew and decided to record the whole thing?
A: I started rolling tape on day one. I got the press release that said, ?Michael Moore is coming to Utah.? I called my crew and said, ?We need to jump on this.? I knew a firestorm was coming to ?Family City, USA? and I wanted to be there when it happened.
Q: You dropped out of school to make this film. Were you at all concerned that maybe it wouldn?t turn out to be that interesting or successful?
A: Seriously, there was no way I could have screwed this one up. Michael Moore versus Mormons? A quadriplegic with Alzheimer?s would have still made a compelling documentary. Maybe it would have been poorly edited or would have never seen the national light of day, but still the story was interesting from the get go. I just knew that my team and I carried so much filmmaking savvy, that we would treat the documentary professionally.
Q: Obviously you have been really involved and have seen a lot of the details surrounding this whole situation, what things surprised you about everything that happened?
A: Well, I served an LDS mission to Venezuela and I often knocked on people?s doors who didn?t agree with me, but they at least listened to the message I had to share. And that?s what LDS missionaries do, they go around the world saying, ?I know you might disagree with me, but I have an important message.? And yet, here was Michael Moore, knocking on Utah?s door, and so many people wanted to slam it in his face. That bothered me a bit.
Was I surprised? Well, there were death threats, bribery, anger and protests in ?Family City, USA?. So, of course, I was surprised.
Q: Have any of the main characters in the film seen it, and if so what were their reactions?
A: I believe everyone in ?This Divided State? has seen the film. About 95% of everyone (for and against Moore) has said to me they believe the film to be even handed and that it treats the subject matter fairly. Kay Anderson, the local millionaire who tried to bribe the school into canceling Michael Moore, said the film is ?liberal propaganda? and ?Steven Greenstreet succeeded in making everyone look stupid.'
When I was asked by the press how to respond to Kay Anderson?s allegation that I made everyone look stupid, I said, ?If I did anything to make anyone look stupid, it was hitting the record button.?
Q: Now that it?s been a year since Michael Moore?s visit, do you feel people learned anything from the whole experience?
A: I think with the Moore controversy, people in Utah Valley took a crash course in ?Tolerance 101.? In the end, most people passed the course with A?s or B?s and everyone else failed miserably. The whole thing started a great conversation between the liberal minority and the conservative majority. Issues, which were assumed to have been non-existent in Happy Valley, were suddenly common conversation topics at UVSC and surrounding communities. I was amazed that people were suddenly interested in finding out more about the Green Party, the Socialist Party and the Libertarian Party. Some scary retribution has fallen upon UVSC because of the Michael Moore speech. Marlon Snow, on the UVSC Board of Regents, stated that plans to build UVSC?s $35 Million Digital Learning Center were cancelled in response to UVSC?s ?left leaning ideology.? State legislators have warned UVSC about future ?Mooresque? events, and that state funding for the college will be harder to obtain. There are still many who fear that battles for free speech at UVSC haven?t ended.
Q: On the front cover of the DVD it said the film won ?best documentary? at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, has it won any other awards, and are you submitting it to be considered for an Oscar nomination?
A: We recently sold out four screenings at the Vancouver International Film Festival in British Columbia. They added a screening because of public demand and the lines were almost two blocks long, in the rain. We find out soon if we have won there.
Am I submitting it for an Oscar? Actually, the Academy sent us a letter the other day inviting us to do so. But, jeez, that just means more work. But yeah, sure, I could use an Oscar.
Q: Any final comments?
A: It?s OK to be a liberal Mormon.
Q: Did you have any specific goals in mind when you were making this film?
A: It was a goal of mine to stay as objective as possible. I didn?t want to narrate the film or edit in my own political opinions. There are many voices that are heard in ?This Divided State,? and I didn?t want only one voice to represent the entire film.
Q: So what is next for you?
A: Well, I?ve currently got two projects in the works. One is another documentary, but I won?t go into details at this point. However, I can tell you that it?s not political. The other is a narrative feature film that I am producing. It?s based on a graphic novel and was adapted into a brilliant script by my two assistant directors. ?Dante?s Inferno? meets ?The Twilight Zone? is way to describe it. We?re working to get it off the ground and shot hopefully within the next six months.
Q: You said you ended up with about 90 hours of footage, was there anything left on the cutting-room floor that you had a hard time leaving out?
A: Well, the rough cut of the film was two hours long, and that?s just ridiculously too long. So, yes, a lot of classic footage was left on the cutting room hard drive. Actually, the night before the Feb. 3rd screening, at around 3:00 a.m., I was still struggling to cut out 10 more minutes. I had to wake up my assistant directors and have them come over and help me because my brain was mush. We were able to pull it off.
Luckily, the DVD has most of those deleted scenes available. One important scene explains why Joe Vogel was forced to resign as Student Body Vice President and another shows students in an ?Anti-Hannity? rally. The DVD itself contains two hours of bonus footage.