Gregory Barnes begins his Sundance short with this quote from former-LDS church president Gordon B. Hinkley: “In these latter-days, pornography has spread further, and reaches wider, than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a tragic evil among us.”
Reaching into his own experiences as a young man growing up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – where his dad was his ecclesiastical leader – first-time director Gregory Barnes tells the story of a young missionary who confesses to his mission president that he has been looking at pornography. It’s a small moment, but today on RadioWest, we’ll examine the bigger themes Gregory hints at in his short The Touch of the Master’s Hand. On the last day of our 2021 Sundance Film festival coverage, we’ll talk about the film, the church’s history of sexual policies and about the cultural impacts of sexual shaming this Wednesday at 11 a.m.
To learn more about Touch of the Master’s Hand, go to festival.sundance.org.
GUESTS
- Gregory Barnes, filmmaker. His short Touch of the Master's Hand won the Jury Award in U.S. Fiction at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
- Kristin Hodson, licensed Clinical Social Worker, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, founder and executive director of The Healing Group.
