Award Winning Black Mormon Film (Mauli Bonner 3 of 3)

Mauli Bonner discusses his award-winning film, "Green Flake is His Name" at various international film festivals. The film was so successful, he was able to help erect a  monument to black Mormon pioneers at "This is the Place" Park. We'll discuss his future plans for both movies & monuments. Check out our conversation by signing up to our free newsletter at https://gospeltangents.com



https://youtu.be/jS1oLX-iJ7g



Don’t miss our other conversations with Mauli: https://gospeltangents.com/people/mauli-bonner



Copyright © 2024



Gospel Tangents



All Rights Reserved



Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission

Award Winning Movie

GT  00:48  Now, I know the movie won several film festival awards. Can you talk a little bit about that?



Mauli  00:53  It did. I finished making the film. granted, I had never made a film before. I never wanted to be a filmmaker. I just knew that the story needed to be told, because I worried that other people in our church, no matter what color you are, would learn about this history. And they will learn it in the wrong way: on Google, in an argument at school or at work. And what is that going to do to their faith? What is that going to do to them? And so, I wanted to make this film so that people could learn the stories of this history while connecting to the people. So, it didn't feel like we're just talking about them like they weren't actual human beings. So, I wanted to tell that story. I made the film, I put everything together: location, and getting the actors and the contracts and all that. Then the day before we're about to film, I go to lay my head down, And I was like, who's the director? I didn't book a director. So, I did everything except for book the director for the film. And so, I was like, "Okay, I've got to direct this thing." And so, this is the night before I made the film. So, I went on YouTube, then it was like, when to say action, when to say cut. I watched this little 30-minute video. That was my little master class. I got on set. And it was awesome. Because I heard, "rolling." I'm like, Yeah, I remember that.  "Sound." Yes, yes. "Speed." Okay. "And," it was just silent. And I was like, "I don't remember the silence." Then my first AD, he tapped me on the shoulder, "Sir, it's on you, sir, action." I'm like, oh, gosh. So, that's how it started. But I will tell you, I had dreamed the scenes up every night, like it was... My wife would wake me up sometimes at night saying, "You're not in a movie. You're not there." Because it was just playing in my mind. So, when I was on set, I knew every scene how it should be, how it should go. So, I directed it, threw it into film festivals. And it came back winning Best Film in every film festival that we were that we got in.



GT  03:01  LA, London.



Mauli  03:03  Yes, LA, London, Rome, Istanbul, Tampa, there were over 10. And then I turned my email notifications off, because it was just a lot of stuff happening. And so, it was winning Best Film, across the board. And this is people that weren't members of the Church.



GT  03:22  Right.



Mauli  03:22  These are people who are just hearing this history. And that told me that our history is not just black history. It's not just Church history. But this is history that connects to anyone, because stories of faith and love and overcoming the most impossible things are something that, on a human level, we can all connect with. So, yeah, it was great.



GT  03:44  So, you don't have to be LDS to like this movie.



Mauli  03:46  No, not at all. I didn't even put it into LDS films, because I wasn't sure how the Church folk were going to like it. I'm like, I don't know. I'll go out here first. But I did end up doing a screening in Utah.