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Filmmakers Looking for GLBT Mormon Stories June 2007 Spy Hop Productions, a non-profit youth media organization located in downtown Salt Lake City, provides over 1,000 youth participants with hands-on, mentorship-based learning opportunities in the media arts every year. Available programs range from the documentary arts to audio engineering, but the Pitch-Nic Young Writer/Director Program is particularly unique. Conceived in 2002, Pitch-Nic offers "an exciting, hands-on way to unite talented, passionate young filmmakers with supporters of youth filmmaking." Over the course of a year experienced young filmmakers are given the opportunity to create professional-caliber films, with a past film from the program even making the official Sundance Film Festival selection. “Two Loves” is a twenty-minute documentary, currently in production with the Pitch-Nic Program. It that will primarily focus on one individual who is currently trying to reconcile their religion with feelings of homosexuality. By including the stories of two other individuals--one who has made the choice to suppress or overcome feelings of homosexuality because of religious beliefs and one who has decided to accept their homosexuality and go against their religion--the filmmakers hope to explore the elements of the personal experience individuals making this choice undergo. The stories of the two individuals who have made their choice will be juxtaposed throughout the film, acting as opposing consciences to illustrate the different paths the main subject could choose to take. Interviews with religious leaders, gay rights activists, and others will be included to give contextual framework. The intent of the filmmakers is not to justify any mindset or agenda, but rather to focus on the experience people undergo as they are faced with the choice between personal desire and personal belief. A person's religion and sexual orientation are both a large part of their identity. So what is someone supposed to do when these two things conflict? Interested in participating? Know someone who you think would contribute to the film? Any helpful information you'd like to pass along to the filmmakers? Email them at twolovesfilm  gmail.com or give them a call. Michelle Riplinger, director, can be reached at (801)
866-5135 and Hannah Long, cinematographer, can be reached at (801) 870-4015.
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www.affirmation.org