The Father Scanlan and John Macfarlane story

Shooting history

It was an honor to work with Silver Reef Historical society, Arts to Zion and many others in bringing a glimpse of this story to life.  This 25 minute short portrays these two gentlemen (Father Scanlan, John Macfarlane) and their unifying efforts in having a Catholic Mass at the St George LDS Tabernacle in 1879.   History, in a funny way repeated itself as we were seeking permission to shoot in the Tabernacle to film what we needed in order to tell this story.  After being declined 3 times for access to shoot in the Tabernacle we were allowed to have a day to get all the shots we needed.  Thank you to the St George Chamber Singers for learning the version of Peters Mass in D, it was a great moment to see this recreated in the very place that happened nearly 143 years ago.

With about 6 months of planning, writing the scenes that we wanted to tell.  We feel it is a great piece to be shared and bring more awareness to the common goal of uniting through differences rather than be divided by differences.

Desert Vibe Media would like to thank Ben Braten at Utah Tech Film for their assistance with some additional equipment.  A handful of Utah Tech Film students (Ethan, Ava, Joe and Marcus) for their growing expertise and skills, Hans Glassman, Jason Kelly, Keith Owen, Tara Clark (for locations), Jeremy Bird (custom wardrobe), Jonah and Jessica Lavelle, Staci Martin with St George Musical Theater wardrobe warehouse and Kimberlee Davis for our horse wrangler.

Screengrabs from the short film