Research for 'Uintah United' a challenge for Goeckeritz
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1 Comment [ View ]By NANCY VAN VALKENBURG
Standard-Examiner staff
After his modest success with his first film, "Ogden: Junction City of the West," Issac Goeckeritz thought making a similar historical film, about a smaller Weber County town, would be a relatively easy task.
"I thought I knew how to put together a documentary, but then I started this, and like, no, I don't," the Ogden filmmaker said. "For the Ogden film, I went to the archives at Union Station. Well, if you go there and look under 'Uintah,' there are like two pictures of Uintah. The challenge of this film was how I was going to research it. A lot of pictures had to come from descendants and family members. I had to hold community scrapbook swap meets."
The scratchy, blurred photos, most of them 85 years old or older, began to emerge, as did more information about principal A. Golden Kilburn, who died in 1958.
"I read his journals and letters, and he was a very genuine person," Goeckeritz said. "I never found anything negative about him. This was the positive story of a positive individual. People talked about how this one instant changed their lives, and the story hadn't been told. It has a positive message, which people need right now."
Goeckeritz hopes the film will break even or make a small profit, as did "Ogden: Junction City of the West." The Salt Lake City PBS affiliate, KUED, is interested in seeing the finished film, to assess it for possible broadcast, KUED general manager Larry Smith said.
The filmmaker also hopes to enter the film in a few festivals, and to sell some DVDs. Copies will be available for $20 after Saturday's screening.
As for his own plans, Goeckeritz's future looks promising. Last month, he landed a job as one of many film producers working for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he is working on compiling stock footage for the church. He is the youngest producer, he said, and is often mistaken for a producer's assistant.
And Goeckeritz and writing partner James Findley are considering their next project, with current contenders ranging from a film on Utah wedding videographers to one on organ players who practice their art in theaters, churches and sports arenas.
The hardest part of making "Uintah United"?
"Paying my rent," Goeckeritz said, with a laugh. "Finding funding is always the hardest part. I paid for about half of the film myself. But people tell me this is how you get started if you want to make documentaries for places like PBS, and that's what I want to do."
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