'Mormons' maker defends film

Responding to pointed questions about her recent PBS documentary, "The Mormons," filmmaker Helen Whitney said Friday the criticism she gets most is over her insistence not to label the people she interviewed on camera as either Mormon or not.

It was a conscious choice, she said, "and I stand by it.... I wanted each of you to listen with your heart and not give anyone more or less credence because they were Mormon or not," she told hundreds of people attending the annual meetings of the Mormon History Association in the Salt Lake Hilton.

Whitney said she has talked to many non-Mormon friends who watched the documentary and told her, "I wasted so much time because I didn't know whom to trust" — which she said was "precisely the point."

Countering that built-in skepticism by failing to provide labels required audiences to listen carefully before making a judgment about credibility, she said, adding that she has had the same criticism from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The four-hour, two-part documentary aired nationally on PBS's "American Experience" and "Frontline" last month, generating record-breaking television ratings for KUED in Utah and substantial viewer interest across the nation because of Mitt Romney's bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

When asked what she would have included in her film if she'd had another hour, Whitney didn't hesitate: "An entire act of faith stories — of people who came to the faith, had questions about it, stepped back from it and, in some cases, are returning to it," she said.

She interviewed more than 1,000 people for the project, many of whom had poignant stories to share about their intersection with a religion that is widely misunderstood, and which some feel misunderstands them.

Talking with a woman who had left the faith with her scholar-husband, Whitney asked her how she felt, and "she couldn't stop weeping for 10 minutes," because she realized "I had lost my compass" in life. "I didn't believe and I couldn't go back," the woman told her, adding that "every single day of (my) life, (I) ache for it."

The standing-room-only audience viewed a segment of the documentary titled "Exiles and Dissenters," featuring University of Utah classics professor Margaret Toscano talking about the details of her excommunication from the faith more than a decade ago for writings advocating that women should hold the church's priesthood.

Brief remarks by President Boyd K. Packer and Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the church's Council of the Twelve were also featured in the segment, who said that the church has the right to sanction members who publicly advocate positions in opposition to church teaching.