OREM — A film that documented the controversy generated by the invitation of anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore to speak at Utah Valley State College will be released on DVD this summer.
"This Divided State" will be available to Utahns in August. In September, it can be purchased nationwide, said the filmmaker, Steve Greenstreet.
Greenstreet recently returned from the 2005 Santa Cruz Film Festival, where "This Divided State" received the audience award for Best Documentary Feature. Greenstreet said he was surprised by the honor.
"There were 13 documentaries. They were all very good," he said.
"This Divided State" chronicles fiery debates among students and community members over whether Moore — who produced the "Fahrenheit 911" documentary that was critical of President Bush and the Iraq war — should have been paid for using UVSC student fees.
"This Divided State" also shows supporters of the student government and Moore who argued that preventing the visit would have stifled academic freedom.
Greenstreet documented the downward spiral in civil communication, which culminated in an ideological rift around campus and spurred an invitation to conservative broadcaster Sean Hannity to also speak at UVSC to provide political balance in the debate. Hannity waived his usual speaking fee — although the school did pick up some incidental costs such as security and travel — and publicly challenged Moore to face off in a campus debate.
Greenstreet dropped his courses at nearby Brigham Young University in the fall of 2004 as the controversy heated up.
He formed a production company, Minority Films, and spent hundreds of hours on the film — recording scenes on campus, interviewing people in their homes and editing footage. Communication students from UVSC also assisted with the film.
Greenstreet screened the final product in February at UVSC without a distributor. The movie was well-received by the mostly student audience.
About a month later, he began touring college campuses across the United States. He showed "This Divided State" as part of the launch of Campus Progress, part of The Center for American Progress. About 300 people were in the audience for each screening, he said. The film was shown at about 20 colleges and universities.
"Both liberals and conservatives showed up," Greenstreet said, adding that at some schools, such as Yale University, many students were left standing because all the seats were occupied.
Greenstreet, 25, said he is considering returning to BYU to finish his degree. He also wants to continue filmmaking.
He is in preproduction for a feature film that is scheduled to be shot in his hometown of Baltimore at the end of the summer.
The film is an adaptation of "One Plus One" by Neal Shaffer and Daniel Krall. The book is a graphic novel, an elaborate and suspenseful comic book that writers transformed into a screenplay.
Greenstreet said he is in negotiations for a director of photography and casting for the film.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com