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Making This Divided State

Director Steven Greenstreet interviews an angry Kay Anderson. Photo courtesy Minority Films.

Few documentarians are fortunate enough to have such rich and compelling subject matter simply fall into their laps, as was the case with me in This Divided State. I had only lived in Utah for 18 months, but having been raised a Mormon, I had a familiarity with the culture and the deep-rooted conservative values within. I knew that communities in Utah represented a certain aspect of nostalgic Americana people felt they needed to fight to keep alive: a flag-waving, church going, and nuclear family of Republicans.

There exists a general attitude here that Utah is ≥special≤, some even call it ≥Zion≤ or ≥Godπs Country.≤ They view ≥the world≤ as an ever-encroaching evil, an evil trying to institute progressive thinking among traditionalists. So when Utah Valley State College (UVSC) announced that its student body officers had invited Michael Moore to speak at their campus, war was declared, lines were drawn, and the community was torn in two.

I knew the Moore controversy would spread like wild fire, and I wanted to try stay ahead of the flames. However, right at the beginning of production, I ran into problemsä I was attending Brigham Young University full time, I had a job as a video editor on campus, and I only had a crew of three. So I made the quick decision to drop out of school, quit my job, and declare UVSC my new home for the next 4 months.

During the first big day of shooting, I had the good fortune of meeting up with a group of UVSC communication students who were also interested in documenting the unfolding controversy. We joined forces and equipped ourselves with a total of 9 cameras and 18 crewmembers. Over the next three months, we had a camera at every event. And we never stopped rolling.

≥Complete and utter chaos,≤ is how Assistant Director Elias Pate describes the first few days of shooting. ≥A maddening conundrum of åwhat the hell is going on?π≤

The next challenge facing us was the completely spontaneous nature of the developing narrative. We were often lucky to have five minutes notice for a protest or hallway debate. Consequently, I acquired 3 speeding and 8 parking tickets in a matter of weeks because of my haste to get from location to location. Manpower and cell phones became the two elements of success as well as primal intuition. If we spotted a student with a ≥I Love Moore≤ shirt on, we sent at least two camera guys to track him. Local news crews were a given hot spot for ad-libbed debate and one-liners. And every so often, weπd even send out small camera groups to roam the local streets and neighborhoods looking for anything interesting or out-of-place.

At the end of the first week of shooting, we had identified all of our key subjects and began to focus most of our time around them. Kay Anderson quickly and easily became the most interesting character of them all. A man in his mid-40πs and neighbor to UVSC, he proclaimed himself leader of the anti-Moore charge and spent nearly every day on campus protesting and debating. He was quick to verbally label pro-Moore students ≥ignorant≤, ≥selfish≤, ≥evil≤, or ≥anti-American.≤ He seemed to be constantly enraged and never shied away from expressing his true emotions. During a public panel discussion, Mr. Anderson flashed a personal $25,000 check in an attempt to bribe the administration to uninvited Moore.

Another happenstance character was Ken Brown, UVSC student and Michael Moore look-a-like. Kenπs stature, weight, and short beard were topped with copyrighted Moore baseball cap, jacket, jeans, and tennis shoes. Strangely, he professed himself a strong supporter of George W. Bush and a rock-solid Republican, but he still believed Michael Moore had a right to speak on campus. ≥People here in Utah need to open their minds,≤ he stated. Kenπs uncanny resemblance to Moore continued to turn heads and even brought the ire on a few confused protesters. ≥Luckily, I havenπt been egged yet.≤

Then came the announcement that FOX News pundit Sean Hannity was coming one week before Moore to provide ≥balance≤ to the liberal filmmaker. This brought an expected applause from the Republican community, but it further emboldened their fight to prevent Michael Moore from coming. Hannity would come for ≥free≤, but UVSC would have to pay his travel expenses.

My crew had daily meetings in order to keep track of footage, plan interviews, and keep track of legal papers. ≥Legal releases became a nightmare!≤ sighs Production Manager Michelle Pate. ≥We had dozens of people arguing and being interviewed by five different cameras at once! I had to run back and forth in order to keep up with everyone and get the releases signed.≤

As the days turned into weeks, my film crew began to capture the deeper reasons as to why Moore was such an ≥insult to the community≤. The original protest was that the school was using student funds to bring Michael Moore and that it was a ≥violation≤ to do so. But those arguments soon fell to the way side and became only an echo to the current tide of resistance.

≥I want you to tell me the real issues of what this is really about! And donπt mention money!≤ was the cry of Humanities Professor Alex Caldeiro. ≥Itπs about ideology,≤ confessed Kay Anderson. ≥This man [Michael Moore] does not represent the values of this community.≤

All crew members plus 13 extra hands were present for the much publicized Hannity and Moore speeches. Outside, we had four cameras capturing protests while five cameras would cover the speeches inside. I had a lucky encounter as I cornered Sean Hannity in a hallway with my camera. I asked him about the $50,000 UVSC spent on his private jet. After taking 10 seconds to dodge the question, one of his security guards grabbed me and pinned me against a walläwhile the camera rolled on. And so the circus continued. And as Mooreπs speech approached, we wondered what would happen. Would people from the community actually turn out to see Michael Moore? Would millionaire Kay Anderson and his lawyers prevent him from coming?

As the film came to a close, we found ourselves with 67 hours of raw footage and the task began to edit it down to 88 minutes. But, alas, the infamous Kay Anderson rose his head once more, this time against myself and my crew. He stated that the release document that he had signed was suddenly ≥revoked≤ and that he would sue me if I released my film. He went as far as to threaten me with a temporary restraining order against any showing of This Divided State. This caused great stress and grief among the filmmakers for we had seen the power Mr. Anderson wielded with his money and his friends in the judicial courts. Luckily, the court of public opinion struck hard as local newspapers blasted him for attempting to prevent free speech and public information. He soon reversed his decision to sue, but the threat of legal action still looms.

The monster that was created from the Michael Moore controversy lingers even still in Utah. There is a sense of division, even deeper than before, and no one speaks of healing or unity. This Divided State is an un-flinching observation of how citizens will go to the greatest lengths to stand up for what they believe is right, even if that means sacrificing civility and brotherhood. It could be said that maybe a monster wasnπt created from all this, maybe it just showed itπs true face for the first time.

-Steven Greenstreet