2002
AML Award:
Film
Presented to:
Christian Vuissa
For:
Roots and Wings
With Roots and Wings, the Association for Mormon Letters honors a film
that is thematically groundbreaking, a film that takes perhaps the most
familiar and cherished of Mormon cultural narratives, a conversion story,
and asks us to view it anew.
Directed by Christian Vuissa, based on an original screenplay by Agustina
Perez, Roots and Wings is a deceptively simple film. The filmmaking is
straightforwardly realistic in its depiction of a Hispanic-American family
and its interaction with Mormonism. Every detail in David Graham's superb
production design invokes what seems initially an almost quotidian reality.
And yet the specific images of the film-a hand planting a garden, a soccer
match, coffee table knick-knacks-supports a story of loss, heart break, and
reconciliation.
Heartbreak and loss are, in fact, at the center of this film about
conversion. What matters in this film is perspective, point of view, and in
this case, the perspective is that of a man who fears the loss of his family
precisely because of what Mormons otherwise celebrate, a conversion. A
conversion implies a turning, from one course of life to another. And, as a
wife and daughter turn towards Mormonism, they also turn, inevitably, from
previous paths, previous cultural verities. And a husband and father mourns
that turning. What makes this film extraordinary is its exploration of the
cost of conversion, the pain of it. And yet, the film simultaneously
celebrates conversion, shows the growth and joy that are also part of the
conversion experience.
Best of all, the film ends with reconciliation, a family restored, but
without a suggestion of further conversion. It hurts to see loved ones turn
from cherished paths into new, strange ones. Roots and Wings explores
that pain. But at no time does Roots and Wings provide facile or easy
answers to the questions it raises. At the end of the film, tensions and
questions remain. Further growth is suggested, and we see its necessity.
In honoring Roots and Wings, we honor the work of many artists, including
an outstanding cast of actors and team of technicians. But we honor the
work of two artists in particular. First, Agustina Perez, whose superb
screenplay provided the blueprint followed by the other artists in the
filmmaking process. And second, Christian Vuissa, whose firm and steady
direction of the film realized Perez' original vision. Roots and Wings is
a short film, made by students. It is also an accomplished and intelligent
work of cinematic art. As Mormon filmmaking continues to mature, this fine
film marks a major step forward.