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Documentary Production and Distribution News
| "Bible Storyland" to Screen at 2012 DOCUTAH By StudentFilmmakers.com posted Aug 28, 2012, 17:05 |
Documentary film about ill-fated 1960's Bible theme park, designed by former Disneyland creatives, to be featured at Southern Utah Film Festival in September.
(Los Angeles, CA) The filmmakers behind Bible Storyland, an offbeat, independent documentary, announced their film has been accepted into competition at the 2012 DOCUTAH Film Festival in Southern Utah. This fun and quirky film, with elements of retro-Americana, Disneyland, The Wizard of Oz, and Old Hollywood, follows Los Angeles art dealer, Harvey Jordan, on his obsessive decade-long quest to uncover the mystery behind a planned Bible amusement park intended to open in Southern California in the early 1960's. The more Jordan discovers, the more he is caught up in a web of unanswered questions that ultimately affects his family, his marriage, and his views on his own mortality. The film's director, Stephanie Hubbard, and Jordan will attend and participate in a Q&A session after the second screening.
Hubbard is a popular author and award-winning documentary film editor and producer whose shows have run on PBS, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel. "People don't usually think of documentaries as fun, weird and uplifting," she says, "but this film is all that. It's an exploration of the stresses of domestic life, art-making and the strange intersection of theme parks and religion." Hubbard's quirky sense of fun is apparent in her use of original animation, noir-style comic book images, video clips from The Simpsons, and Cecile B. DeMille's epic biblical films from the 1950's, to set the tone and provide dramatic effect.
"We're thrilled to be attending DOCUTAH," says Jordan, "It means a lot to share my story and to see other people get as excited about the story behind Bible Storyland as I have been. And it will be wonderful to attend a festival in such a gorgeous area, so close to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park."
Bible Storyland includes interviews with retro pop-culture humorist Charles Phoenix, Jack Haley's grandson, music and TV producer Buddy Bregman (who recorded with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland) and clergy, scholars and experts on theme park history. Also featured is Jordan's wife, Debi Derryberry, a prolific voice actor best known as the voice of Jimmy Neutron. View the trailer and more at www.BibleStorylandMovie.com.
Screenings: Thursday, September 6th at 4pm and Sunday, September 9th at 4pm at Westates Red Cliffs Cinema Theaters, 1750 E. Red Cliffs Dr., Washington, UT 84780.
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