As spectacular as its sales figures and business success have been in its first 18 months of operations, the founders and employees at Salt Lake City’s Epic Brewing Company have demonstrated their deep appreciation for a far more significant lifelong value in dynamic entrepreneurship. In the unforgiving arena of business, entrepreneurship cannot be seen merely as a contact sport governed by rigid rules. Rather it is the gateway to building a product culture that champions collaboration and innovation not only in the making of high-quality craft beers but also in strengthening Utah’s steadily expanding awareness for superior locally-produced and expertly prepared foods.

Most recently, Kevin Crompton, Epic’s chief brewer, joined with Jeff Hancock, his counterpart at the DC Brau Brewing Company in Washington, D.C. to create ‘Fermentation without Representation,’ an Imperial Pumpkin Porter, a craft beer that includes more than 200 pounds of locally grown pumpkin in each batch along with a mix of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and whole Madagascar vanilla beans. As noted by Mike Riedel, who writes the Utah Beer blog: ‘There are two places in the United States notoriously known for their lack of representation: Washington D.C., which has none — and Utah, whose minority drinkers are a nuisance more than constituents. It seems likely that factions from both places would find some common ground and rage against those that choose not to hear them. Leave it to the beer industry to rock the boat.’ Riedel adds that, while each brewer will follow the standard recipe, the respective versions will be distinctive in their own right, just as they should be. Both beers were released on Nov. 3 in each location.

As the end of 2011 nears, Dave Cole and Peter Erickson, co-founders of Epic who worked for many years as biologists before launching their dream venture in May of 2010, see a company that long ago outgrew the rosiest predictions of their original, meticulously crafted strategic business plan. Their original production targets this year were pegged at 700 barrels. Thanks first to an expansion last winter that effectively tripled its capacity and to further ongoing enhancements that have added huge fermentation tanks and barrels for aging (including whiskey and bourbon, white wine such as chardonnay, and red wine such as syrah and cabernet), Epic is now capable of producing between 6,000 and 8,000 barrels annually.

And, 2012 will see further growth, including an out-of-state brewing location that will aid in serving Epic’s growing market presence in states in the eastern half of the country. In other words, Epic’s production capacity at some point will top 15,000 barrels a year.

Its versatility in the short term verges on the unbelievable. There already are 28 varieties encompassing Epic’s Classic, Elevated, and Exponential product tiers. And, the brewery has nabbed 14 major industry awards in its 18-month existence, including two medals at last month’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, where nearly 4,000 beers were entered into competition.

Epic’s Imperial IPA earned a bronze in one of the festival’s most competitive categories where 103 entries were posted. Its fabulously popular Brainless on Peaches, which Crompton describes as a Belgian Style beer that goes through a secondary fermentation on organic peach puree in French oak chardonnay barrels, earned a silver medal.

In January, Epic gained honors as a top three new brewer in a review by RateBeer.com, one of the industry’s foremost authoritative review groups. Epic’s beers were ranked against more than 130,000 offerings from 10,000-plus brewers in the world.

Epic beers now are found in 10 states, including Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio, New Jersey, Virginia and North Carolina. And, Cole and Erickson have found key strategic and conducive allies in the always tricky minefield of distribution, such as Hunterdon Distributors in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. This company specializes in representing the new wave of craft beer producers who follow uncompromising standards of quality production ranging from the monitoring of fermentation to the geographically-specific origin of the malt and grains, the multitude of yeast strains, and the sourcing of first-rate ingredients and fruit juices for specialized brews.

The founders continue to wear their phenomenal success with remarkably understated poise as Utah’s first state brewery since the Prohibition Era to produce beer that is exclusively greater than 4.0 percent alcohol (by volume). And, much as when the Selective Echo took its first tour of Epic’s facilities at 825 South State Street, the group of employees (about 20) continues to wear the exciting pace of mushrooming expansion without wavering one bit in their focus on product quality.

Cole and Erickson are exemplars of the best team sport attributes of entrepreneurship. Consistent both in staying confident and affable, the two co-founders appropriately confer the right sense of autonomy in delegating the tasks and responsibilities that have made their coherent, compelling vision a vibrant reality in the marketplace. Experimentation always is encouraged and some of the most unconventional ideas turn out to be rousing successes.

Its Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout, made with cocoa nibs and coffee, proved a bit overpowering in its first release but Crompton dialed the ingredients back in subsequent batches by about 20 percent and the beer now conveys all of the best elements of an imperial stout with just the right hints of dark chocolate and espresso. And like so many other Epic beers, this particular brew has inspired local food creations including a gelato made on the premises of Vinto’s casual Italian eatery in downtown Salt Lake City.

Epic’s place in the local food culture is being welcomed in many of the city’s best-known restaurants and taverns for locally made and sourced products. A prominent example is with Tony Caputo’s Market and Deli where several food classes now are focused on unique pairings of Epic’s brews with the handcrafted charcuterie made by Creminelli and others along with the many cheeses that are part of Caputo’s growing affinage program. A proposed joint venture in 2012 will include a local shop exclusively focused on pairing Epic brews with Caputo products.

Regardless of whether a beer falls in either as an Epic Classic, Elevated, or Exponential offering, the brewery always pushes the boundaries in even small unexpectedly delightful ways. A particular favorite is Hopulent IPA, which is now in its 30th release. A veritable orgy of hops, this beer still comes in at a healthy 8.2 percent alcohol content. However, it’s a marvel of layered complexity. The peaked hoppy aroma is complemented by a pleasantly surprising malty and smooth textured taste punctuated by the right nuances of grapefruit and pine that nicely separate out the bitterness from the sweet finish of the fruit.

All Epic beers are sold in 22-ounce bottles at the State Street store, in limited quantities at various Utah liquor stores, and at numerous local restaurants and bars. For more information, see here.

Robert Altman’s “Nashville” begins with two points:

1. All of us are deeply involved in politics, whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not.

2. We can do something about it.

The diversity of discontent over immigration screams for systemic reform.

Border security is a focus. Republican presidential candidates have talked about walls, virtual barriers and electrified fences. President Barack Obama joked about a moat filled with alligators.

Experts have long suggested that high walls simply create business for longer ladders, cleverly hidden tunnels or different smuggling routes. Absolute border security seems impossible or obscenely expensive. Perhaps policy should seek border integrity.

Reports show that border crossings are down, but the U.S. will spend approximately $11.5 billion this year on Customs and Border Protection. Wise reform would lend logic to the spending.

Simplifying legal immigration and allowing needed workers to come here would reduce undocumented crossings. This would free border personnel and infrastructure to concentrate on addressing drug cartel activity and other serious criminal and security threats.

Jobs have long been contentious in the immigration debate. Some people argue that immigrants take jobs from Americans. Others argue that immigrants fill jobs Americans will not do.

In a recent working paper, economist George Borjas wrote, “In the United States, immigration has increased the size of specific groups, such as high school dropouts and workers with post-college degrees.” This complexity has not often been found in the debate; however, proposals by Utah Congressmen Mike Lee and Jason Chaffetz indicate that could be changing.

Compounding the complexity is that undocumented immigrants are more likely to be high school dropouts. These immigrants often work in agriculture, construction and hospitality. Native workers would not easily replace them.

Let’s face these facts: some industries need foreign-born workers. Current immigration laws do not allow for an adequate legal supply of these workers.

Federal inaction has tempted states to infringe on the federal authority over immigration. Alabama, Arizona, Georgia and other states have passed enforcement-only laws. Though the federal courts have enjoined many parts of those laws, economic figures and anecdotes suggest that business activity in those states has suffered.

Utah is a curious case. A supposedly immigrant-friendly law was coupled with an enforcement-only law.

The Utah guest worker program HB116 was sponsored by Rep. Bill Wright, R-Holden, a dairy farmer who knows firsthand the difficulty of finding capable and loyal employees among the documented.

HB116 is by all accounts unconstitutional. Though HB116 is slated for implementation in July 2013, few expect it to go into effect, certainly not without a costly legal battle.

The Utah enforcement-only law HB497 was implemented on May 10. It was stopped later that day in federal court. Subsequent hearings have been postponed several times. Federal officials visited Utah on Tuesday to consider whether to join the lawsuit against HB497.

Paradoxically, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff must defend HB497 after having opposed it during the legislative session. Immigration twists people in that way.

Although the diversity of discontent over immigration makes reform difficult, continued inattention and inaction at the Congressional level ill serve us.

As in many other years, the onstage female voice will again be prominent in the forthcoming 21st season of Plan-B Theatre. However, the significance that all three world premiere productions – ‘Lady Macbeth,’ ‘The Third Crossing,’ and ‘The Scarlet Letter’ – are penned by Utah women is one that should not be lost upon the audience.

‘There’s been a quite a debate about the lack of the female playwright’s voice on the American stage,’ says Jerry Rapier, Plan-B’s producing director. ‘Certainly that voice is less plentiful in many areas outside of Salt Lake. I would say that here in Utah, given our size relative to much larger theater markets, we probably would rank in the top when it comes to produced works by female playwrights – or by original playwrights overall.’

All three playwrights – Aden Ross, Debora Threedy, and Jenifer Nii – have had work produced by Plan-B with excellent results. Rapier adds it is a coincidence that the entire season’s offerings this year are by women. ‘Each of these plays happened to be ready for staging at this point,’ he adds.

There may be 5,000 or more women playwrights in the United States. While women make up approximately 40 percent of the Dramatists Guild of America’s membership (and there are roughly a little more than 2,200 women members), barely 10 percent of works of all types produced by regional, resident theaters, and off-Broadway houses were written by women.

And, women playwrights have barely gained ground in the last century. A 2009 article in The Dramatist indicated that in the 1908-09 New York stage season, a larger percentage of works (13 percent) by women playwrights was staged than in 2008-2009 (12.8 percent).

Unfortunately, while no one either in or out of the artistic field has been able to offer a solid testable hypothesis about why this is so, some of Plan-B’s most successful works – with all but 22 of its productions in its 20-year history as world premieres – have been penned by women. These include Carol Lynn Pearson’s ‘Facing East,’ which transferred off-Broadway, toured in San Francisco, and is now being adapted for a film. Ross’ 2006 play ‘Amerika’ also was produced in Toronto’s Fringe Festival. Mary Dickson’s ‘Exposed’ toured Utah and Lesléa Newman’s ‘A Letter to Harvey Milk’ toured to Der Lesbisch-schwules Kulturhaus in Frankfurt, Germany.

Already, more than 75 percent of the tickets for Ross’ new play ‘Lady Macbeth,’ which opens next week (see tomorrow’s Selective Echo for a preview), have been sold. This is a consistent phenomenon with Plan-B’s strong original brand of theatrical works that deftly challenges cultural and historical biases and stereotypes and effectively trumps the defects of mainstream elitist approaches to cultural awareness and knowledge.

The formula obviously works. Its string of consecutive sold-out productions has spanned the last five seasons.

Plan-B’s new season builds upon a much broader, deeper theme that has been percolating and evolving over the last few years in its work. This, of course, is the era of telegenic politicians, the Glenn Becks, Sarah Palins, Tea Party activists, and other self-anointed conservative keepers of the long-standing humanities canon who believe they have rightly distilled the meaning and intent of classic literature and the nation’s historical narrative as it has been told for the last two centuries.

However, each of these three plays – whether it’s Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic book, or the widely recognized yet hugely incomplete story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings – leads audiences to reconnect with the larger importance of the literature and history. And, to help us realize that each of us has a more extended cultural obligation going well beyond the mere capacity to ‘name drop’ Shakespeare, Sally Hemings, or Hester Prynne as a way of impressing others with our knowledge of trivia.

In their original works, Ross, Threedy, and Nii transform the disparate or remote elements of these historical and literary artifacts into passionate, contemporarily exciting opportunities that suddenly awaken the audience to the practicality of knowing these stories. And, at a time where obsequious loyalty – whether in the community, political arena, and the workplace – seems to be more valued than an independently confident command of even general knowledge, these works awaken our keenest urges to beef up our cultural and historical literacy.

Plan-B’s socially conscious theater, indeed, enriches our lives especially in the practical realm. These plays open up channels for us to have the ideal conversations emboldening us to stand up for our beliefs and principles and to enrich our capacities for loving our families, raising the members of our younger generations, and improving our communities.

Lady Macbeth, which will run from Oct. 27 to Nov. 6, incorporates an impressive roster of Shakespeare characters and references: Lady Macbeth, the court fool, Iago, Portia, Gertrude, Malvolio, Ophelia, and Othello. In Ross’ hand, some characters such as Iago, Ophelia, and Malvolio get customized treatment. Ross is concerned not only about the absurdity of our political discourse but also about how corporatism has rendered government ineffectual.

Aiming for the full weight of contemporary urgency, ‘Lady Macbeth’ becomes an entertaining polemical mashup of Shakespeare and an always full supply of malapropisms, pop culture references, and appropriately timed absurdities. It reminds us that having a broad baseline knowledge about the world – without necessarily being imprisoned or paralyzed by wonky details or Machiavellian machinations – is probably the best attribute to have in making the most judicious choices about how we should progress.

In Threedy’s ‘Third Crossing,’ (March 8-18, 2012) while she examines the relationship between Jefferson and Hemings, Threedy sets the tone for developing a more informed understanding about race in this country. As Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor for The Atlantic, has written:

‘Put bluntly, this is a country too ignorant of itself to grapple with race in any serious way. The very nomenclature — “conversation on race” — betrays the unseriousness of the thing by communicating the sense that race can be boxed from the broader American narrative. It proceeds from the sense that one can intelligently speak of Thomas Jefferson without mentioning Sally Hemings; that one can discuss Andrew Jackson without discussing the black artillerymen who fought with him (and were ultimately betrayed by him) at the Battle of New Orleans; that one can discuss suffrage without Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells or Frederick Douglass.’

Threedy, a member of the University of Utah law school faculty, is particularly well suited as a playwright to shift the perspective away from verdicts and conclusive answers to enlightened questions and searches for evidence.

Nii’s adaptation of ‘The Scarlet Letter’ (April 12-22, 2012) shows that Hawthorne’s story, published more than 160 years ago, remains fresh and timeless in the 21st century, all while preserving the period integrity of the author’s original manuscript. Nii pulls to the surface all of the most uncomfortable elements that reveal the more accurate accounts of a deeply embarrassing, violent, and religious stream of national consciousness that rips apart the fairytale version of our school days and reminds us just how religious discord always has been a part of our national psyche.

The season will close May 12 with its ninth annual ‘Slam,’ Plan-B’s annual benefit and playwriting slam competition. Performances for all productions will be held at the Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Salt Lake City.

Other events include Plan-B’s involvement on Nov. 7 in the global theatrical event, “Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays.’ The performance in the Creer Auditorium of The Salt Lake Art Center is part of the company’s Script-in-Hand series and will feature local radio personality Bill Allred, Equality Utah Executive Director Brandie Balken, Kirt Bateman, Kim Blackett, RadioWest’s Doug Fabrizio, Stephanie Howell, Jay Perry, Teresa Sanderson and Betsy West. Proceeds from the local event will benefit Equality Utah.

Free readings of new plays in progress – the Script-in-Hand Series – will be held once again this season in conjunction with the Meat and Potato Theatre and the Theatre Arts Conservatory. The dates include March 14 and April 18. In the late summer.

Mindful of making its artistic efforts as widely accessible and affordable as possible, Plan-B has kept ticket prices stable and its budget as austere as possible. However, as with any fully engaged community artistic organization, it will need further financial support to continue its mission of presenting original work by Utah playwrights. And, consistently sold-out productions testify strongly to the deep base of original writing talent being cultivated in Utah.

As a cultural enterprise as wisely predicated on prudent business management as it is in busting conventional aesthetic boundaries of theater, Plan-B has provided the creative outlet for nearly 800 artists in its history. With more than 60 awards under its belt, Plan-B also has been instrumental in raising funds for nearly 40 local nonprofit organizations.

Season subscriptions are $75, which represent significant savings off the single ticket price of $20 and $40 for the playwriting slam benefit. Student tickets are available for individual performances at $10 each.

For more information, see here.

However, the remainder of the press release – dishonest, incomplete, and irresponsible for how it erroneously contextualizes the results of the survey – shows that, once again, Elder’s pledges for transparency and accountability are insincere knee-jerk reactions intended only to ride out the current wave of scrutiny and save her job. Helped by a tremendously inexperienced and incapable communications director and a group of board members who long ago ceded its legal, proper fiduciary authority to a vindictive, dictatorial director who has no respect for the integrity of the public trust, Elder has crafted a narrative that is far from a verifiable representation.

After weeks of deliberate stonewalling, it was only a recent flurry of growing unrest surrounding the unprecedented shutting down of internal communications that forced Elder’s hand to release the survey. However, the results, paid for by city tax dollars and to which every citizen in Salt Lake City is entitled to see in its raw, uncensored form, have been craftily manipulated. Elder and the small cadre of Board members truly believe in the collective ignorance of the public to accept their presentations blindly without questions or challenges.

Elder, of course, has blocked the disclosure of the open-ended responses which, according to various sources, show in extensive detail the most pertinent concerns regarding the failures of Elder’s leadership. These, of course, also have been documented last spring in three long articles by The Selective Echo.

The Net Promoter Scores

However, what is missing from Elder’s report and from the press release announcing the survey results are the Net Promoter Scores that target specifically the most critical problems in this four-year-long leadership crisis, which has included at least two staff votes of no confidence. Not one problem has yet been resolved despite the fact that the Board has spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for two consultants and untold other services to bolster a director who has refused every suggestion to change her course of strategic leadership.

For the survey, staff members were asked to answer numerous items on a seven-point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The two lowest and two highest points on the scale were clustered respectively and the difference between the results, reported in percentage form, generated Net Promoter Scores. This is a common measurement tool applied in surveys assessing the satisfaction of employees or customers for a particular organization.

The scores indicate, in part, the potential strength of stakeholder engagement as well as the potential commitment an employee would make to support or endorse particular strategic initiatives pursued by the company. High positive net promoter scores are desirable because they show that communication and strategic implementation are perceived by employees at all levels of the organizational hierarchy to be productive and effective.

Extremely low positive scores or negative scores indicate that employees are more likely to be detractors – not endorsers – of strategic policies and tactics that they see as hampering or minimizing their values and sense of connection to the library’s mission. Negative scores, therefore, should alert organizational leadership to cultivate authentic engagement in particular strategic areas. In subsequent surveys, both managers and employees could then see if, indeed, communications and strategic coordination improved to the extent of reversing those negative scores.

In the survey, the most problematic Net Promoter Scores – 18 in total – confirmed what many stakeholders have believed and what the Selective Echo has identified previously as being the most pervasive problems of the current library administration. The most prominent negative scores underscore the deep failings with regard to communication, transparency, and competent implementation of strategic plans:

Library policies and practices promote the most effective library services, 1%

The Executive Leadership Team is committed to providing high quality products and services to patrons, -15%

The Library recognizes employees who provide high-quality library services, -15%

I believe the Library has an outstanding future, -2%

I can see a clear link between my work and Library’s outcomes, -8%

The Library has set realistic goals and outcomes, -24%

The Library’s current strategy and mission are well implemented, -33%

The Library has a clear sense of direction, -33%

The Executive Leadership Team of the Library has communicated a vision of the future that motivates me, -41%

My ideas and suggestions are valued by management, 1%

I am satisfied with my opportunities for advancement, -15%

The information I receive from other departments and committees is adequate, 0%

Organization policies are clearly communicated, -13%

The Executive Leadership Team communicates the information that I need to know about the Library, -39%

The Executive Leadership encourages open and honest communication, -41%

If I had the skills necessary for another position at the library, I would receive fair consideration for transfer to or promotion to that job, -10%

The Executive Leadership Team cares about the staff and volunteers, -31%

Members of the Executive Leadership Team are accessible and approachable, -32%

In no way does Elder address these scores. She obviously must have been referring to some other survey – perhaps involving little elves working in a magical tree making cookies – in writing her recommendations. And, I quote:

‘There is good communication about the matters that affect people’s work. Employees feel that they have a grasp on their role in the Library’s strategy and mission.’

The Board should move to reject her report on the grounds that this is an intellectually dishonest, completely misleading interpretation of the results. This is a travesty of disregard for the integrity of public accountability and trust. And, for the record, there have been reports again from several sources indicating that Elder pressured the Library Employee Organization (LEO) Executive Council with threats of suspension and termination to sign off on this hastily assembled document. The LEO already has spent several weeks in forthright discussions with the Executive Leadership Team regarding how the survey results should be addressed.

The Invisible Director

Elder, despite the fact she is a public official in a role that should be as the city’s most visible cultural ambassador, has led for months now in virtual isolation away from the larger community. She appeared last month to make a few forgettable remarks at the opening of the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the main branch. She has had no meaningful contact with the shop vendors or organizations, who, like every other library stakeholder constituency, have many concerns.

Otherwise, she arrives at the City Library, grabs a coffee, and heads to her fifth floor bunker, popping out for the monthly board meeting or for sessions with her two most loyal supporters – Board members Hugh Gillilan and Mimi Charles who long ago abdicated any real sense of public fiduciary responsibility for proper conduct as library board members. And, as the survey results indicate, staff meetings have done little to make progress on issues that were identified several years ago.

Elder, with the consent of most Board members who have become her collective docile eunuchs, was hoping to stonewall public discussion of the survey until the November board meeting. However, several recent incidents changed that as they involved reprimands and threats of dismissal for staff members who dared to carry on precisely the type of dialogue that she says will be a part of her recommendations. The growing public discomfort about a leader at a prominent public institution that exists to combat prior restraint and censorship made her and an already skittish Board that much more nervous.

Categorically False? Or Not?

Yet, as outlined above, no one should expect Elder to have a transformative moment here in the pursuit of transparency and accountability. On the same day Julianne Hancock, the Library’s communication director, was quoted in The Salt Lake Tribune as denying as categorically false claims that the leadership would review staff communications for signs of criticism or insubordination, an incident involving a Board member suggests that Hancock’s statement is actually the false one.

Mark Alvarez apparently received a message from the library offices to return a call from a KSL reporter. Tommy Hamby, Elder’s executive assistant, sent an email that includes the following:

‘If it is a Library matter, per recent discussions about Board communications, the following is the proposed procedure:

“Media Communications: All Library communication to the public through the media (including social media, print, radio, TV and blogs) will be arranged and coordinated by the Library Communication Director. The Communication Director is the spokesperson for the Library. The Communication Director may be the spokesperson for the Board with the approval of the President.”

Julianne can be reached at jhancock@slcpl.org or by phone at 801-524-8219.’

As Alvarez is not an employee but a Board member, the notion of using intimidation or implied threats is shocking and an egregious interference with the First Amendment rights of a publicly appointed trustee. Furthermore, Hamby, Hancock, and Elder – as well as all Board members – should familiarize themselves with the following pages from the July 2010 Utah Public Library Trustee Manual: pp. 35-36 with reference to Public Relations and Advocacy as well as Appendix K: A Comparison of Roles and Responsibilities of Public Library Trustees and Library Directors, pp. 65-70.

Hopeless Prospects

The prospects for improving communications – perhaps the most critical function to be faced by an institutional director – are hopeless.

For example, on the matter of public relations, one must consider the work of Hancock who, despite the fact that there are many unfilled vacancies including key posts such as finance director, has requested additional staff. This seems currently unjustifiable as the library’s public relations profile and media relations activities are extraordinarily weak for an award-winning institution. Clearly, neither Hancock nor Elder see the media as an important stakeholder in the organizational communication work, a fundamental acknowledgment familiar to every professional public relations person.

Last March, after administrative secretary Bobbi Bohman resigned because Elder wanted to control and delay the routine release of public records, The Salt Lake Tribune offered op-ed page space to Elder so she could address the paper’s March 19 editorial that criticized her stance. She never followed up.

Furthermore, there is no evidence of a communications audit – a standard public relations practice – nor any signs that Hancock nor Elder has developed an ongoing media relationship protocol. This would include arranging for regular appearances on public service programs both on local network affiliates as well as other broadcast outlets. Also, there should be regular media briefings with the editorial board of the major metropolitan dailies. Likewise, Hancock has done virtually no media promotional work for the numerous community outreach activities staff members have developed. Some programs would actually generate national media attention.

One example arose last month when libraries across the nation began offering e-books on Amazon’s Kindles. The Salt Lake Tribune featured an article with the Salt Lake County Library System but there was no mention of the city’s public libraries. Also, many libraries across the country had great feature articles and broadcast reports.

But not the SLC Public Library. Immediately afterward, Hancock sent out a five-sentence press release which had the effect of a “me, too” response. The release had no quotes or context for a feature news peg. A public relations colleague, upon reviewing the press release, said that a freshman in an introductory course could have written a much better media advisory.

One is hard pressed to think of any media campaigns that focus on positive actions, not restrictions that run counter to a public institution’s mission. Hancock’s most effective public relations work apparently is to help Elder push forward on stonewalling, intimidation, and misrepresentation.

For those of us who take to heart and mind a long-standing code of ethics in the profession, this disturbs profoundly. But, then, it is inconceivable to think that Elder would willingly listen to the wise, prudent advice of experienced public relations counselors who would explain just why the library’s communications infrastructure has been so deeply damaged.

TLC for a Library

The Selective Echo also would encourage citizens to do a complete walk through the library and its campus so they can assess the serious lapses in upkeep and maintenance. In June, I noted the walls along the staircase between the fourth and fifth floors, near the window where the beehives can be seen, were peeling. That has yet to be repaired. The rooftop gardens are in shabby shape, once again, and we have had long stretches of beautiful fall weather when landscaping work could have been easily accomplished.

There are many signs of roof leaks and water damage especially in the lower-level children’s library department. One can easily spot the dirt on the overhead shade panels. It is standard knowledge that any setting where you have an adjacent water element (such as the reflecting pool) will require regular maintenance against water leaks and damage. Left unaddressed, these problems could create an unhealthy indoor air environment for children who might be susceptible to respiratory infections and asthma.

The gargantuan sculpture in the urban atrium desperately also needs a major cleaning. In its better days, it would shimmer brilliantly in the daylight. The artist who created a dragonfly sculpture for the children’s area gladly cleaned and restored the art piece without charge, only asking to be reimbursed for the cleaning supplies. However, the sculpture has yet to be mounted.

Staff members often go on library business without being reimbursed for travel or gas. However, Elder has a $300 monthly car allowance. Staff members who were moved to new positions under the reorganization last January have yet to receive their two-percent cost of living increase. There were reports last spring when Elder’s contract was renewed of offering the director a raise, despite the fact that a formal performance review has yet to be performed.

Elder would have done well to follow the example of the state’s public university presidents who gave up raises and made personal concessions as a small yet important gesture in a tight budgetary period.

Final Questions

The Board must answer several questions. If indeed the Board believes Elder is the rightly qualified director to lead the library, then why does it continue to condone stonewalling and hiding information that unquestionably falls under the public’s right to know category? If specific information and data are available that justify Elder’s continued employment, then why is it not on the record?

The Board has been so caught up with lapping up Elder’s restrictive policy that members even are hard pressed to identify specific accomplishments which might underscore her managerial worthiness.

Eight days ago, in The New York Times, Thomas Galante, the chief executive officer for the Queens Library, said libraries need to be less introverted. And, so do their leaders.

As for why maintenance issues become significant to note, the same article contained the following:

‘And it’s the small things, after all — some greenery, good lighting, well-maintained sidewalks and well-made buildings — that shape our perceptions of where we live, whether or not we’re always conscious of them.’

The City Library has ranked just behind the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as among the most visited destinations in the city. However, just ask if Temple Square would ever be allowed to show the same signs of negligence or shabbiness in maintenance.

The Board should take a walk on the library campus and on every floor. And, then, it should return to the survey results that were just released. The evidence becomes clear: The library’s best strategic move at this point is to accept the resignation of Beth Elder and to facilitate a transition where real outcomes can be achieved without fear and intimidation.

When an audience member at one of her lectures asks if she ever consults anyone else for advice, she says, ‘Who do I go to when I want a second opinion? You mean, like a cardiologist? That would be the only time.’ She laments that too many people are writing books that are terrible because people have been taught to have self esteem. She argues that the best culture comes from a natural aristocracy of talent. Lebowitz, soon to be 61, is firmly for smokers’ rights, adding that the history of art has always been about talking, drinking and smoking in bars and cafes.

The 2010 Home Box Office (HBO) documentary will be screened Friday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. in the Salt Lake Art Center auditorium as part of the Utah Film Center’s Creativity in Focus series, sponsored in part by Rio Tinto.

While audience members should not expect to see any deep background details about her formative life, the documentary is really a beautifully edited monologue of her appearances (featuring moderator Toni Morrison) interspersed with footage of her speaking in her customary booth at the Waverly Inn as well as scenes from the 1960s and 1970s featuring William F. Buckley, Jr., Truman Capote, Pablo Casals, Jack Paar, Gore Vidal, Oscar Levant, and James Baldwin.

As for the film’s epiphany, it refers to the extraordinary and refreshing self-confidence of a brilliant wit and mind that refuses to be constrained by digital tools or to be reduced to the pablum dictates of a contemporary age. Lebowitz proudly states that she does not have a computer or cell phone and wonders if a microwave oven would allow someone to text.

One of her favorite possessions, in fact, is a pale gray Checker Taxi Cab that she bought for $9,000 in 1978 with the money she received for a book advance. Lebowitz, who, at 19, moved from her native New Jersey to New York City’s West Village in 1969, drove a cab part-time each month just enough to cover her $121 rent. In the film, the car still looks magnificent, the product of meticulous restoration and its owner’s care.

Lebowitz came rapidly into her own during the 1970s, especially as a columnist for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and then later for Mademoiselle. The magazine columns – or more accurately, essays – became part of two classic best-selling books Metropolitan Life and Social Studies, published in 1978 and 1981, respectively. A master of repurposing writing, she gathered the essays of both books into the ‘Fran Lebowitz Reader.’

She also published a children’s book called ‘Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas,’ which, as recollected in the film, caused a good deal of consternation among panda experts who were upset that the author had the animals eating pizza.

Those unfamiliar with Lebowitz, who is a widely sought speaker, might be quite surprised at how small her published oeuvre actually is. Already successful at 27, she resisted, as we learn, lucrative offers from Hollywood studios to turn both of her books into movie scripts. She already had decided that her next book would be a novel, ‘Exterior Signs of Wealth.’ However, she lapsed into her famous writer’s block – or as she calls it, ‘writer’s blockade’ – which only has been recently lifted.

To give a sense of just how long this blockade had gone on, one only needs to refer to a 1993 Paris article in an interview with James Linville and George Plimpton:

‘Because I didn’t write. I had an idea for this book, but I wrote very little. When I was about twenty and had just started publishing, I thought: I’ll write two books of these funny essays and then I’ll write a novel. I never wanted to write a novel first. I had—because of my aversion to young people, even when I was a young person—an aversion toward writing a young person’s novel. There are few books written by people in their twenties that, even if they are great books, are not in some way young people’s books. It’s that base longing of youth that really irritates me. I like a person who is more embittered. That embittered sensibility is not possible in a young person. You can be nasty when you are young, but you really have to be older to achieve bitterness. When I finished Social Studies, I had an idea for the novel, but I thought I needed a form for the book. When I was writing all those little essays, most of the topics I wrote about, everyone had written about. Everyone has written about everything; you’re not going to come up with some new topic to write about. So I always tried to come up with some kind of form for the piece that would be intrinsic to what I was saying. I like restrictions when I write. I don’t understand people who want more freedom. The terrifying thing about writing is freedom, when people say, but you can do anything. I don’t want to be able to do anything, that’s too terrifying.’

Not one moment sags in this 82-minute documentary, thanks to the appropriate New York sensibilities of Scorsese, whose technique in this film also reflects to a different artistic period. However, Lebowitz appears effortlessly timeless. Her 1997 Vanity Fair essay about race in America remains a must-read piece that seems even more relevant after the 2008 election. She is a favorite guest on late night television talk shows, recently returning to David Lettermen after a 16-year absence. And, she appeared as a tough-talking judge on a Law and Order episode.

Indeed, rare is the artist such as Lebowitz with a fascinating gift to resist the temptation to conform or compromise while still being able to outshine virtually every other figure in brilliant articulation, verbal or written.

For more information about the series see here.

With a name change this season – known for its first nine years as the SLC Film Center – the organization is poised to carve its place among the state’s preeminent cultural institutions. In broadening its outreach to Logan, Ogden, Moab, St. George, and other state locations, the UFC uses film – which founder and board chair Geralyn Dreyfous says is so ideally flexible and portable as a form of creative expression – to capture and cultivate a socially connected network that is inspired by film to take up the “what can we do” challenge for creating better engagements in our community.

It was that recognition of film’s capacity to inspire a community-based identity that overcomes the constraints of contentious dichotomies and social fragmentation, which inspired Dreyfous, along with Nicole Guillemet and Kathryn Toll, to form the center in 2002. The original proposal called for the project to be a local adjunct to the Sundance Film Festival, of which Guillemet was co-director at the time. However, in the spring of that year, Guillemet moved to take charge of the Miami International Film Festival.

Dreyfous brought Toll on board and both women, with impressive portfolios in both philanthropy and the film industry, knew instinctively the center could flourish first by capitalizing upon their close connections with filmmakers and industry distributors and then by collaborating with local organizations with goals and objectives that dovetail with the content of film screenings.

The first film screened was ‘Promises,’ a 2001 documentary chronicling three years of experiences for seven Jewish and Palestinian children living in Jerusalem. The Oscar-nominated film, which racked up many honors at some of the best-known international cinematic festivals, played to a standing-room-only audience at a screening, which featured Justine Shapiro, one of the film’s directors, in a Q&A afterward.

Since then, more than 500 directors, producers, and actors have appeared at UFC screenings and the availability of digital technologies such as Skype have even made it easier for audiences to start a dialogue with a filmmaker. And, of course, to mark its anniversary, UFC is offering programs featuring Geena Davis, John Waters, and many others.

So encouraging was audience reaction to UFC’s first screenings that it wasn’t long before the center’s programming expanded from one screening per month to weekly and eventually to the common two to three screenings each week now. In recent years, the annual attendance at UFC programs, of which nearly all are free and open to the public, has easily topped 20,000.

Those numbers likely will continue to grow at a faster pace especially as UFC widens its slate of programming not only throughout Utah but also with smartly curated film festivals of its own. A single screening of a documentary about climate issues drew more than 130 people at Dixie State College, a new venue for UFC programs.

The center opened its anniversary year last month with the first-ever Gandhi Film Festival, cosponsored with the Gandhi Alliance for Peace. The opening film – the 2008 biographical documentary ‘The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan: A Torch for Peace’ – played to a packed City Library auditorium and audience members talked extensively with Teri McLuhan, the film’s director.

Last spring, effectively achieving the capacity to provide essentially lifelong cinematic programming for Utah residents, the UFC held its first Tumbleweeds Film Festival, the only large-scale cinema gathering in the Intermountain West geared exclusively toward children, which also played to large audiences.

Likewise, attendance has continued to grow at the Damn! These Heels LGBT Film Festival, which will have its ninth run next June. This festival, in particular, signifies UFC’s customary sensitivity for programming in how it reflects the most current pulse on the most prominent issues concerning social and political awareness. For example, the most recent festival underscored the growing public opinion acceptance that marriage rights and economic equality regardless of sexual orientation or identity were important.

Therefore, the lineup represented films of solid artistic measure with aesthetic attributes and storytelling elements that appeal to a broadly diversified audience regardless of sexual orientation and identity. The festival’s storytelling emphasis was less on political points than on the everyday issues of love, happiness, and personal epiphanies, which everyone faces.

Similarly, the ‘Tillman Story’ which aired last spring in four Utah cities as part of the center’s Films Without Border series opened up a dialogue with director Amir Bar-Lev who answered audience questions at all of the screenings. It became evident that the film did not represent a battle between hawks and doves or between atheists and religious adherents or set out to ascribe blame to a specific group for covering up the details behind Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan seven years ago.

Indeed, if one wants to find a commonly accessible thread which runs through the 170 or so films the center screens each year is how a monumental cast of governmental officials, military leaders, corporate elites, journalists, talk-show hosts, celebrity pundits, public relations ‘spin doctors,’ and savvy, opportunistic marketers contribute substantially to blurring the lines of entertainment and information for the sake of a production that hardly represents realities with which audiences identify on a daily basis.

In fact, one would be hard pressed to name an issue, event, phenomenon, icon or cultural element that hasn’t been touched upon in one way or another during the center’s first 10 years. A Creativity in Focus series, in collaboration with the Salt Lake Art Center, has featured experimental films as well as top-rated documentaries dealing with artists such as Banksy, Chuck Close, and Basquiat that compel the local art community to face and discuss the challenges of generating visibility for its own work while wrestling with the temptations of making it big without sacrificing their authentic creative voices.

Body image, civil rights, food sustainability, gender and sexuality, environmental protection and preservation, civil rights, immigration reform, Islam, Africa, and literature have appeared among countless other themes. International cinema, including Spanish language films, also has become a regular component of UFC’s annual programming. Afternoon film series for seniors and retired citizens are offered periodically free of charge.

In its second decade, UFC hopes to build upon the expanding film-literate community of Utah with programs that give more opportunity to local filmmakers to hone their storytelling skills, according to Dreyfous, a Harvard graduate who has assembled an impressive portfolio as a producer and executive producer of more than 15 films including the Academy-Award-winning documentary ‘Born Into Brothels.’ UFC has joined with the Salt Lake Film Society and Spy Hop Productions in hopes of developing a film and digital media facility with production and exhibition capabilities in some of the space of the old Utah Theater in downtown. While the concept has been identified in the master plan for development of a cultural campus that would ultimately link all of the existing and proposed arts and culture facilities, no firm initiatives have yet been made.

As a strong testament to the UFC’s success, Dreyfous also has assembled a staff with significant experience in filmmaking and philanthropy. Missy Dawson, the current executive director, started out in journalism before moving to nonprofit organizational management and development. She came to Utah in 2009 after serving as the senior manager of the San Francisco Symphony’s Second Century Campaign, which raised more than $120 million for the symphony’s core programs and endowment.

In the same year, Patrick Hubley, joined as the UFC’s artistic director. His portfolio includes substantial press, event producing, and consulting experience with Sundance and the Sundance Institute, the Toronto International Film Festival, CineVegas Film Festival, and the Dubai International Film Festival.

Marcie Collett, the center’s current development manager, brings extensive experience from Denver in coordinating various adult literacy programs. Likewise, Levi Elder, communications manager and programmer, has professional credits with several major studios and festivals including Tribeca, the American Film Institute, the Middle Eastern International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, and Ireland’s Kerry Film Festival.

One of the most familiar faces on the Salt Lake City cultural and arts scene, Mariah Mann Mellus keys the center’s membership and outreach activities. A writer and event coordinator, she brings broad experience from the ski and extreme sports industries as well as organizations dealing with global youth cultural outreach programs.

Rounding out the staff are Keb Brady, business manager and executive assistants Kelsie Jepsen and Sarah Mohr.

It is worth noting the breadth and depth of experience UFC staff members bring to the table, which will be essential for carrying forward the center’s founding mission. No doubt, everyone sees the strategic opportunities in the cost-effective transportability of films as the center cultivates larger and new audiences especially in other parts of the states. Certainly, initial responses to screenings in locations outside of Salt Lake City have been justifiably heartening.

However, Dreyfous and her staff also are focused on the transformative potential of their work for a state that definitively is not as conservative or as reactionary as what mainstream media and pundits often characterize. Miles Horton, who is one of the best-known teachers of social movement leaders, wrote in his 1990 autobiography ‘The Long Haul’:

‘If we are to have democratic society, people must find or invent new channels through which decisions can be made . . . the problem is not that people will make irresponsible or wrong decisions. It is, rather, to convince people who have been ignored or excluded in the past that their involvement will have meaning and that their ideas will be respected. The danger is not too much, but too little participation.’

For more information about the UFC, see here.

The festival’s eight films have been wisely curated for how they tie in so substantively to ongoing issues and events that demand the attention of international audiences.

Among them are the following:

‘Bringing Down A Dictator’ (Steve York, U.S., 2002, 56 mins.) – Saturday, Sept. 24, 5 p.m.

NOTE: York will be present for a Q&A after the screening.

In the climactic days of the Egyptian revolution earlier this year, a report on Al-Jazeera English showed youth leaders watching this award-winning documentary which focuses on the precipitating events for the eventual downfall of the late Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic and the rise of the nonviolent movement called Otpor! (which is the Serbian word for resistance).

The 2002 TV documentary, which won a Peabody among many other awards, demonstrates the tremendous discipline for nonviolent strategies in both the student protesters and political opposition leaders during the 2000 elections. York makes its thoroughly evident that if the political opposition (representing nearly 20 parties if not more) had not united to support a single candidate (Vojislav Kostunica), then the resistance movement might have failed and Milosevic could have prevailed.

In an interview earlier this year with a correspondent with the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the groups involved in the Egyptian revolution, York described what he had set out to achieve in the making of this documentary:

‘Simply stated, it’s a popular belief that authoritarians and dictators can only be defeated militarily. History has shown this argument to be false, many times, but the myth persists. Films like this one are a very small effort to gradually provide evidence that nonviolent options are viable, that nonviolent struggles do succeed, more often that is commonly understood, and against all kinds of adversaries.’

Accordingly, viewers of the documentary should take note of how the young leaders of Otpor! carried through their strategic work, which was extraordinarily difficult. However, it also is easy to be impressed by the young leaders’ capacity for humor, creative demonstrations, and bold slogans that proved to be critical stimuli for broadening the movement’s support.

Furthermore, it would be somewhat foolish to think that other nonviolent resistance movements should simply copy what happened in Serbia. Unity, organization, and nonviolent discipline are essential, according to York, and that conclusion is a commonly occurring theme in all of the festival’s films.

Today, few media pay attention to what has transpired in the former Yugoslavian republic, which is moving toward full membership in the European Union. Last spring, Boris Tadi? (who is seen in the film), now Serbian president, announced the arrest of Ratko Mladi?, the former Bosnian Serb general who was wanted on war crimes by The Hague tribunal. This was critical because Tadi?, who became the defense minister after the 2000 elections, had led a monumental reform of the country’s military and police forces which still had operated under the guise of Soviet-style communism.

Indeed Serbia’s reforms were tenuous in the initial years after Milosevic’s downfall. For example, Zoran Djindjic (also seen in the film) was the new prime mminister but he was assassinated by dissident nationalist paramilitary forces a year after York’s documentary was released.

Tadi? has been extremely significant because he is the face of Serbia’s moral and geopolitical rehabilitation, particularly as the continent continues to sort the enormously complicated mess of Kosovo, recognized as independent by the EU but not by Serbia. And, it was the Kosovo bombings in the 1990s that eventually led to Milosevic’s downfall.

York’s documentary, therefore, effectively reminds us why international support for continuing reforms in Serbia, as launched in 2000, by the Otpor! Movement is so critical.

‘Budrus’ (Julia Bacha, Israel, 2009, 78 mins.) – Sunday, Sept. 25, at 1 p.m.

Viewers should look at Bacha’s film about a tiny Palestinian enclave of 1,500 residents and olive tree groves differently in light of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ bid today for his nation’s statehood before the United Nations General Assembly. Bacha filmed the events in 2003 and 2004, during which 55 peaceful demonstrations organized by Ayed Morrar eventually forced the Israeli government to move the Separation Barrier and not close off his village from the rest of the West Bank.

The film is a stunning piece of visual culture of how the landscape is manifested as the medium for conflict and contest in countercolonial struggles. The so-called fence – better yet, a wall of imprisonment – is plainly ugly amidst the olive trees upon which the Budrus residents depend solely for their livelihood.

Seven years after Budrus, the questions remain the same as The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg suggests:

‘Is the maximum the Israelis can offer equal the minimum the Palestinians can accept? The answer, so far, on both sides, has been no, but I don’t doubt that most Israelis, and most Palestinians, seek a deal of some sort, and would like the peace process to progress in a way that ensures their security.’

Even despite the most heartfelt nonviolent efforts of Morrar and his fellow Palestinians, the barriers were still there.

A Skype Q&A will take place with Bacha following the screening.

‘Gandhi’ (Richard Attenborough, United Kingdom, 1982, 191 mins.) – Sunday, Sept. 25, 3 p.m.

Only a few words need to be said about this film, which won eight Oscars and scores of other awards. One of the most intriguing bits of trivia regarding the film concerns the two-minute funeral sequence, which was filmed coincidentally on the anniversary of Gandhi’s funeral (which occurred Jan. 31, 1948). Two-thirds of the 300,000 extra actors used for the sequence were volunteers. It is an extraordinary scene.

The best guide for viewing the film, now nearly 30 years old, comes from Roger Ebert’s 1982 review:

‘Imagine that for many Americans, Mahatma Gandhi remains a dimly understood historical figure. I suspect a lot of us know he was a great Indian leader without quite knowing why and such is our ignorance of Eastern history and culture. We may not fully realize that his movement did indeed liberate India, in one of the greatest political and economic victories of all time, achieved through nonviolent principles. What is important about this film is not that it serves as a history lesson (although it does) but that, at a time when the threat of nuclear holocaust hangs ominously in the air, it reminds us that we are, after all, human, and thus capable of the most extraordinary and wonderful achievements, simply through the use of our imagination, our will, and our sense of right.’

For more information about the festival’s complete slate, see here.

Films about one of Gandhi’s earliest colleagues in the Pashtun frontier of the Indian subcontinent, the groundbreaking Christian-Muslin women’s peace movement in Liberia which led to the election of Africa’s first woman head of state, the 2009 Green Wave Revolution in Iran, and the president of Maldives facing the dual challenges of democracy building and climate change highlight the inaugural Gandhi Film Festival which will be held September 23-25 (Friday-Sunday) at the Salt Lake City Public Library in the main auditorium.

Sponsored by the Gandhi Alliance for Peace and the Utah Film Center, the slate of eight films, directed and producers by artists and documentarians in five countries, focus on events, movements, and individuals that often fly under the radar of mass media coverage. The films – with stories from India, Iran, Liberia, Maldives, Palestine, and Serbia – exemplify the accurate and appropriately situated historical significance of Gandhi’s meticulous step-by-step approach for achieving true independence and democratic enlightenment while maintaining an unwavering commitment to nonviolent protest and resistance.

As Ian Desai wrote earlier this year in The Wilson Quarterly, Gandhi’s success was predicated on the tremendously hard work of a deeply rooted social network:

‘The real magic of the Mahatma was not a trick of popular charisma, but in fact a deft ability to recruit, manage, and inspire a team of talented individuals who worked tirelessly in his service. Gandhi himself was one of the few people to recognize how this phenomenon worked. “With each day I realize more and more that my mahatmaship, which is a mere adornment, depends on others. I have shone with the glory borrowed from my innumerable co-workers,” he wrote in 1928 in Navajivan.’

Those sentiments are evident in each of the festival’s films, which are free and open to the public. The festival opens with a 2008 biographical documentary film about Badshah Khan, born into a Pashtun warrior society who worked with Gandhi and formed a nonviolent army of resistance including Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Parsees, Sikhs, and Buddhists. Made by Teri C. McLuhan, the daughter of one of the most famous media theorists (Marshall T. McLuhan), the film – ‘The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan: A Torch for Peace’ – brings to light an historical chapter that too easily has been obscured by the more familiar legacy of Gandhi.

Working more than 20 years on the film, she shot footage in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and interviewed many key figures who worked with Gandhi and Khan and were in the 80s and 90s at the time of the film’s production.

McLuhan will attend the screening (Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.) and will take questions from the audience following the film.

Audience members also should take note of ‘The Island President,’ which will be screened Saturday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m. Directed by Jon Shenk, the 2011 film just earned the Cadillac People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. Shenk is one of the most widely respected documentarians, having won awards for ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ as well as ‘Smile Pinki’ which won an Oscar in 2009. A Q&A session with the director will follow the screening.

While the film’s title refers to Mohamed Nasheed, the president of the Maldives, Shenk quickly earned the trust of governmental officials and the film is remarkable for its unscripted, unquestionably realistic chronicle of the nation’s efforts to promote governmental transparency, to deal with climate change threats, and to showcase its cultural heritage. The nation, with a population of just 385,000, encompasses 2,000 islands.

Nasheed gained international attention in 2009 when he conducted a meeting of his cabinet ministers underwater to emphasize not only the Maldives’ amenities as an ecotourism destination but also to highlight the vulnerabilities of rising seas as a result of global warming.

The festival will close Sunday, Sept. 25, at 3 p.m. with a screening of ‘Gandhi,’ the 1982 blockbuster biographical film which starred Ben Kingsley and was directed by Richard Attenborough.

Previews of other films that will be screened in the earlier portions of the Sept. 24 program are featured below. Tomorrow, The Selective Echo will present previews of the remaining program of films.

As it marks its 10th anniversary, the Utah Film Center continues to broaden its community partnerships, adding the Gandhi Alliance for Peace to its network.

The alliance arose out of a small group organized in 1988 to conduct a grassroots campaign to urge for a comprehensive test ban treaty on nuclear weapons. The group expanded its efforts by collaborating with Peace Brigades International to conduct a local albeit smaller and shorter version of the famous ‘Salt March’ along the shore of the Great Salt Lake, which took place on Gandhi’s birthday (October 2). This year’s celebration will be held Oct. 2 at Jordan Park. For more information about the alliance, which was incorporated in 2000, see here.

For information about the Utah Film Center’s screenings, see here.

Other films:

‘Pray The Devil Back to Hell’ (Virginia Reticker, U.S., 2008, 72 mins.) – Saturday, Sept. 24 (11 a.m.)

The West African nation of Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic, founded in the middle 19th century by former slaves, but it seemed doomed to an endless stream of warlord thugocracy and civil war (with more than a quarter of million deaths in a 14-year period) until thousands of women bridged the Christian-Muslim divide to push for an end to violence and to ensure a transition to a democratic government free of corruption. Reticker steers wisely clear of leavening the film with political ideology, instead focusing on the emotional yet maturely poised efforts of women who are so desperate for peace that they are willing to withhold sex from their husbands and men who seem irrevocably tempted by violence, greed, and corruption.

More importantly, the film documents in exceptional detail the rise of a movement, which was nearly ignored in total by the international media who were swept up at the same time by the American push to topple Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq. The film follows the ouster of dictator Charles Taylor (who is now awaiting the verdict on his international war crimes trial for acts of murder in Sierra Leone’s civil war during the 1990s) and the subsequent campaign to elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected woman head of state. Controversial in her own right, Sirleaf – widely known as Africa’s Iron Lady – has been cited by The Economist as the best president the country has ever had, singling out her zero-tolerance campaign against corruption as well as her efforts to rebuilt Monrovia’s battered infrastructure.

Reticker’s film, which has won nearly 20 film festival awards including Tribeca and Silverdocs, stands out for its simple yet unforgettable portrayal of deeply courageous women who followed Gandhi’s example step by step.

This film is presented with KUER-FM.

‘One Man, One Cow, and One Planet’ (Thomas Burstyn, New Zealand, 2007, 56 mins.) – Saturday, Sept. 24 (1 p.m.)

Among the many tectonic shifts taking place in India’s economy, farmers are reviving old biodynamic approaches to agriculture, thanks to Peter Proctor, an octogenarian who has shown how cow manure can make compost for restoring spent soil along with agricultural practices that can be adapted for the benefit of India’s poorest farmers. The film, narrated by Peter Coyote, includes an amazing soundtrack by Mercan Dede, a Turkish-born turntablist and DJ who works out of Montreal.

‘The Green Wave’ (Ali Samedi Ahadi, Germany, 2010, 80 mins.) – Saturday, Sept. 24 (3 p.m.)

Before the Arab Spring revolutionary phenomenon began its sweep through the Middle East, the rapidly spreading Green Wave movement at the height of the 2009 presidential election campaign in Iran was on the verge of transforming the police-state Islamic republic into an unprecedented democracy. So quickly the movement had spread that government officials had no choice but to rig the election results and return Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. However, Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme religious leader, unleashed a torrent of brutal repression and violence that will never extinguish the flames ignited by the unforgettable crowds that marched in Teheran’s public spaces two years ago.

Ahadi’s film, with collages of animation and mobile phone footage footage inspired by the writings of bloggers and Twitter feeds, is a near heart-breaking account of the sinister oppression where a government did not hesitate to maim or kill its own people who merely wanted to know: ‘Where is my vote?’

Ahadi traces the movement with quick pace from a campaign where voters were excited about the prospects for significant change and for the opportunity to express themselves freely, ironically coming from their support of the opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who really was far from being a radical revolutionary. Citizens – wearing green that symbolized both the hope of spring and Islam – are encouraged as one blogger who says, ‘many people thought the elections could not be manipulated.’ The deceit and violence which follow the rigged election are chronicled in voiceovers that were rarely captured in tone or impact by traditional media coverage.

Despite the film’s deeply depressing tone at times, Ahadi, who now lives and works in Germany, leaves telling signs in his work that the willed spirit to continue the fight was not broken. There are plenty of cues in the film that Ahadi believes that the patience, so essential to the core of Gandhi’s work, will serve the Iranian people well. And, certainly the most recent reports from respected international journalists indicate that the majority of Iranian citizens no longer believe the government represents the well-being or safety of its people.

The film already has been screened at Sundance, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Plan-B Theatre Company humbly declares that paths open up for us. But Plan-B’s good fortune actually arises from a commitment to community exemplified in rich partnerships, the cultivation of Utah playwrights and a twenty-plus-year history of dedication to unique and socially conscious theatre. In short, Plan-B is good.

On August 28, Plan-B in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and the Planned Parenthood Action Council of Utah, presented a staged reading of ‘A Doll House’ by Henrik Ibsen, translated from the Norwegian by Eric Samuelsen. The presentation built on the Script in Hand series, which Plan-B started in 2004.

Jerry Rapier, the director of ‘A Doll House’ and Plan-B’s producing director, spoke before the presentation and quickly dispatched the notion that theater was a dying art: 450 people were in attendance at the Jeanne Wagner Theatre in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

In notes about the play, translator Eric Samuelsen wrote, ‘”A Doll House” examines gender roles, social constraints and the power of secrets through the seemingly happy marriage of Nora and Torvald Helmer.’ Samuelsen, who has written several exceptionally original plays for Plan-B, nicely highlighted Ibsen’s humor.

The play begins on Christmas Eve 1879 with Nora, read by Lauren Noll, giving instructions to a maid so that the children do not see Christmas preparations early. Nora generously tips a porter and quickly eats a macaroon.

Soon Torvald, read by Jay Perry, begins calling Nora pet names like skylark and squirrel. Before Torvald enters the room, Nora hides the macaroons.

Nora shows Torvald what she has bought, and Torvald playfully labels her a spendthrift. Nora notes the promotion Torvald has received and how much money he will be making. But Torvald cautions that the raise will take some time, and he gives his wife some lessons about money. He makes a joke about Nora’s sweet tooth and suggests she has had a macaroon or two, which Nora denies.

Noll established Nora as animated and childlike in the presence of Torvald, yet the actress nimbly adapts Nora to other situations and challenges. Through ‘A Doll House,’ she is largely a child to her husband, a playmate with her children, a businesswoman in secret and a negotiator.

Perry plays Torvald as doting on and patronizing toward Nora, but he does it in such a good-humored manner as to suggest an ignorance of innocence, not ill intention.

Torvald and Nora perhaps were raised for and then trapped in the roles of a traditional and structured society. Life was relatively easy on them, and experience never truly shook them from those roles.

Nils Krogstad, read by Joe Debevc, and Kristine Linde, read by Deena Marie Manzanares, are two characters raised in the same society, yet they have had experiences that did shake them from their roles. Nils, like Torvald, is an attorney, but he has gone through rough times and learned not to trust’pretty phrases.’ Nils works for Torvald at a bank.

For the sake of her mother and two brothers, Kristine once ‘sold herself’ into a marriage with a man who later left her a childless widow. She learned enough not to sell herself again.

Crucial to ‘A Doll House’ is a forgery Nora once committed to borrow money for a trip necessary to restore Torvald’s health. Torvald is unaware of what Nora did for him.

Nils is the moneylender, and he threatens Nora with blackmail if she does not persuade Torvald to treat him favorably. Nora speaks on behalf of Nils to Torvald, but Torvald, unaware of the blackmail threat and the forgery, immediately sends word to fire Nils at the bank. He worries that his reputation could suffer if he allows his wife to influence a business decision.

Nils responds to his firing with a letter to Torvald that speaks of the forgery and how Nils will use the information. Nora sees the letter in Torvald’s box, and she does what she can to delay Torvald’s opening it. Nora talks with Kristine about how to deal with the situation.

Nils was once in love with Kristine, and Kristine tells Nora that she will request that Nils ask Torvald to return the letter unopened. She believes he will do this.

When Kristine and Nils talk, they believe that despite their flawed pasts, they can still make a life together. Nils is willing to retrieve the letter, but Kristine makes the crucial decision in ‘A Doll House’: Torvald should see the letter so that Nora and Torvald can face reality.

Nora has always believed that Torvald would make any sacrifice for her, but when she sees Torvald react to the letter, she has the experience that shakes her from her role. Torvald becomes furious with how the forgery could affect his reputation and standing. He tells Nora, ‘you’ve wrecked my future.’ Torvald gives no thought to how Nora might be affected.

Nora, who had contemplated suicide to save her husband, is shocked that Torvald has not done anything to defend her, that Torvald has not made any sacrifice to protect her. Torvald’s only concern is to handle the incident so that he is not hurt.

A note arrives for Torvald. Nils has sent Torvald the evidence of the forgery.

Torvald expresses that he has been saved. Then he says that they both have been saved. Torvald reverts to his playful self and tells Nora that he forgives her, that the sordid mess should be forgotten.

Nora has been shaken from her role in Torvald’s house, and she leaves him and it resolved to find out what is right for her.

Torvald may be shaken by the experience of watching his doll leave him. The door slams.

The Plan-B reading was beautifully timed. Following a summer respite coming on the heels of an outstanding 20th anniversary season, Plan-B’s presentation of Samuelsen’s translation of this resilient classic serves notice that another memorable season is on its way. In fact, the forthcoming season features works by three Utah women playwrights, all focusing on strong women whose own resilience is a testament to their potential for everlasting empowerment.

‘They have simply gone on ahead:
they will not wish to return home.
We’ll catch up to them on those hills
in the sunshine!
The day is fair on those hills.’ – Translation of Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)

When a child dies, especially so young and so suddenly, the words don’t come in the same way when a parent or another loved one passes. It always is a struggle to regain those words – to be able finally to express and to let others know that in his long absence his presence remains still so strong. There is always that promise or hope – no matter how many years have passed and regardless of the physical crumbling of bricks and mortar – of the lesson and gift of his presence.

In ‘Tarkio Balloon,’ a five-minute film of fragile poetry, Utah filmmaker Torben Bernhard goes back to a cemetery in a small Missouri town where his brother, Dane, is buried. In 1985, when Bernhard was 2, his two-month-old brother died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Shot on 8-MM film and incorporating excerpts from an audio interview recorded years earlier with his mother (Janae), ‘Tarkio Balloon’ gives visibility to all parents who lost a child.

Bernhard’s film will have its Utah premiere on Saturday, Aug. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Tower Theatre (876 E 900 S) as part of the Salt Lake City Film Festival. The short is paired with the feature-length documentary ‘Better This World,’ by Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, an impressive piece of investigative journalism going to the surprising background story of how two young men from Texas ended up facing charges of domestic terrorism.

‘Tarkio Balloon’ received its premiere earlier this year at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. It was one of seven films selected for the mini-documentary competition.

The inspiration for the film came to Bernhard at last year’s Cinequest in San Jose, California, where The Sonosopher, the excellent experimental documentary (co-directed with Travis Low) about Alex Caldiero, was being screened. Although it had been 25 years since his infant brother’s tragic death, Bernhard’s mind flooded with memories of Dane and his own challenging attempts as a two-year-old brother trying to understand why his brother had gone away and wondering if he would ever come back. Before returning to Thailand, where he was working on other film projects, Bernhard and his wife Marissa drove from Utah to Tarkio, where he had not been for more than 20 years, to locate Dane’s grave and to see what had become of the town. “It felt like stepping into a myth. My mind sought to contrive the experience. It wanted me to make sense of the experience, structure it like an aimless road trip movie, where I leave my journey, resurrected by exhaled breath making ashes dance again in scattered procession,” Bernhard writes. “But, being isn’t tidy. At least, not from my experience. Being is, well, being.”

Bernhard’s poetic imagery is immensely moving in its stark simplicity. The film opens with a vivid shot of the hills leading into the town. The viewer can imagine easily the bitter cold, slate gray skies which greeted Bernhard and his wife as they moved through the cemetery to find Dane’s grave and document the remnants of a once-vibrant town that had forgotten itself as much as it had forgotten the Bernhard family had ever lived there. Layered among the imagery are the poignant recollections of Bernhard’s mother.

In the space of a few minutes, Bernhard imparts a profound message about our individual challenges in questioning our prevailing social assumptions on the basis of how each of us sees what gives our lives meaning and value. In our contemporary society, the idea of losing a child still seems so rare to many people. However, when it does occur, the grieving parent eventually may be shunned or even ostracized if the grieving continues beyond some norm of appropriate grieving time. Societal expectations of grieving norms are predicated on healing as if one can heal from grief as they would from a cut, wound, or injury.

Bernhard’s film reaffirms that the pain of loss never goes away nor does the memory of a lost child’s presence. As for the pilgrimage, he writes: ‘There is so much to say. There is so much I have left out. My only desire is that I have somehow left breadcrumbs for a future self to find his way back to Tarkio.’

The film is part of Bernhard’s ‘Lost and Found’ project, comprising five short films running under 15 minutes each and representing different angles and settings (Utah, Missouri, and Thailand) that yet carry through the theme suggested by the series’ title. Among the other films is ‘Boomtown,’ co-directed by Travis Low and which documents the vanishing of a southwestern Utah town which flourished in the late 1800s with the discovery of gold and other precious metals at the Horn Silver Mine. ‘Trash Collector’ explores the life of Chaan, a man living in a slum along the train tracks that snake through Nakhorn Ratchasima (Korat) en route to the northeast region of Thailand. Bernard’s wife Marissa is directing ‘Thailand Cowboy,’ a fascinating look into a Thai man who lives to fuel his passion for American westerns and the romanticized personalities of that genre including John Wayne and John Ford. The fifth film – ‘The Gospel According to Ralphael’ – is about a Salt Lake City man who has transformed a shabby warehouse into a museum of enormous concrete and steel sculptures, paintings, murals, and ceiling frescoes that synthesize his religious beliefs taken from traditional and personal interpretations of many theological foundations.

Bernhard has launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign here. The goal is $5,000 which must be accomplished by the end of business on Sept. 18 in order to be funded. A pair of trailers featuring the filmmakers and the stories is below.

For more information about the festival and to purchase tickets for the screening, see here and for more about The Lost and Found Series, see here.