OREM — LDS Film Festival founder Christian Vuissa said it several times during the 2008 event.

"There are more people in this room than attended the festival combined our first year," he said as he surveyed a packed house on Jan. 16 at the SCERA Center for the Arts.

The first festival drew fewer than 1,000 viewers, while the seventh-annual festival in 2008 ended with an attendance of more than 6,500. This is the third year the festival has been hosted at the SCERA facility, which offers two theaters and state-of-the-art projection equipment.

Ten full-length feature films such as "Forever Strong," "TAKE," "The Errand of Angels," "Emma Smith: My Story" and "Tears of a King: The Latter Days of Elvis" drew the largest audiences. Documentaries such as "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons" and "The Off-Court Story of Kresimir Cosic" pulled in substantial audiences as well.

Question-and-answer opportunities as well as special presentations gave audience members access to filmmakers, actors and producers.

"The festival has proven again that LDS filmmaking is alive and well," Vuissa said. "We couldn't be more pleased with the program this year and the excellent films and presentations we were able to gather for a great festival. We are now already getting excited for next year."

The 2008 Pioneer Award recipient is Sterling Van Wagenen, who was the co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival and founding executive of the Sundance Institute.

The 2008 Visionary Award went to Greg Whiteley, director of "New York Doll," for making an LDS film that strongly appeals to an LDS and general audience.

Awards in the short films competition included first place to "Der Ostwind," written and directed by Kohl Glass with visual effects by Rob Au; and second place to "The Lost Journal of Vice Marceaux" by JR Burningham. Third place went to "Butterflies" by Andy Bailey. A complete list of winners can be found at www.ldsfilmfestival.org.

Following are short reviews of some of the films presented at the festival. Full reviews for several, as noted below, are available online in the Arts & Entertainment section of deseretnews.com.