Church News of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints featured a youth of Dallas, Texas. Paige Olsen won the national film documentary competition with a film about her grandfather.
Read the article from Church News here.
See a portion of the article here:
Dallas, TX- High schooler and Latter-day Saint Paige Olsen of Dallas, Texas, sat in a movie theater in New York City with tears of joy and pride streaming down her cheeks.
“How can we live a beautiful life when there is so much pain in the world?” her own voice asked over the speakers as a video of herself looking through a photo album played across the screen.
Read this article in Spanish and Portuguese:
- Adolescente Santo de los Últimos Días gana competencia nacional de cine con documental que destaca la fe
- Adolescente santo dos últimos dias vence competição nacional de cinema com documentário que destaca a fé
Olsen’s three-minute pitch for a documentary had previously won the design pitch category in the All-American High School Film Festival, earning her the equipment to produce the full 10-minute version of the film, which screened in New York City, Oct. 18.
“Holy guacamole,” she recalls thinking after the documentary’s premiere. “How did that just happen?”
Olsen’s documentary focused on who she claims is her hero: her grandfather Ron Mortensen.
“I wanted to know: How does someone like Ron keep smiling after everything he’s been through?” Olsen said in her film.
Olsen specifically wanted to highlight Mortensen’s commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ — despite the challenges he has faced throughout his life — in hopes of inspiring others to do the same.
“It was important to focus on choosing faith, because there’s a lot of bad things that go on in the world, and you can just be a little happier and just accomplish way more with faith,” she said.