Filmmaker tackles addiction in 'Happy Valley'

When Ron Williams says he never planned to become a filmmaker, you're inclined to believe him.

After all, the 46-year-old Williams has already found success elsewhere — as the founder and president of the Orem-based ForeverGreen Company.

Yet making the drug-addiction documentary "Happy Valley" was something he says he got "called to do." (The film opened in local theaters today.)

"Circumstances and events in my life pretty much forced my hand. I don't really think I had a choice," he said by phone from Orem.

Williams did have some experience shooting promotional videos and advertisements. Originally, he planned to document the experiences of his ex-wife, Nancy, in a drug-rehabilitation program.

But a much more horrifying, subsequent incident involving his stepdaughter, Macall Aubrey Petersen, presented a "bigger, more important and more troubling" story.

In June 2005, Petersen and her then-boyfriend, Jasen Andrew Calacino, were accused of hiding the body of their friend, Amelia Sorich, who had died as the result of a drug overdose.

"I knew then that I had to do something, to say something about this situation. I was in the position," Williams recalled.

Petersen is serving two prison sentences — up to six years for negligent homicide and desecration of a body — while Calacino has already served a year for felony body desecration.

Both of them agreed to be interviewed for the film, as did Sorich's still-grieving parents, Michael and Kathryn, who are shown talking very candidly with Williams onscreen.

"(The Soriches) are the heroes of my movie," he said. "Given how much hurt and heartache they've suffered, they were so brave to agree to be interviewed and to share their experiences. I have nothing but love and respect for them."

"Happy Valley" also presents a troubling picture of drug abuse in Utah, including the rise of prescription drug fraud.

While some might think that Williams is criticizing Utah's conservative values by pointing out the seemingly unspoken but widespread addiction problem, he says that's not the case.

"This could happen anywhere. It just so happens that all these things were going on in our backyard, a place where no one does expect it to happen," he said.