A Small Film Fest Without the ‘F-word’

If Hollywood had made “Seasons of the Heart,” the villain would have been more vivid. Jed and Martha Richards, pioneers trekking across the Old West, would have lost their little girls to outlaws or “Injuns,” not illness. And the old preacher who matches the grieving couple with an orphan boy, he’d be a rascal--an Elmer Gantry type, perhaps, with an eye on the pretty young wife.

But Deborah G. Hofstedt, the minivan-driving Mormon mother of three who wrote the screenplay, never felt pressured to put sex or shootouts into this tale. Feature Films for Families, a budget-conscious studio based in Utah, doesn’t do it Hollywood’s way.

“Seasons of the Heart,” then, was an apt beginning for a new film festival set in Santa Clarita, a suburban haven beyond the north rim of the San Fernando Valley that prides itself as a great place to raise the kids. The Santa Clarita Valley International Film Festival, which closes today, has no film racier than PG. As organizer Chris Shoemaker puts it, you might hear a “damn” here and a “hell” there, but you won’t hear “the F-word.”

But please, please, don’t think this is a conclave of prudes and Puritans.

“Look,” Shoemaker confides, “I thought ‘The Crying Game’ was great.”

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Shoemaker is wise to be diplomatic. The Bible Belt and Hollywood have long been at odds, and now a Democratic Administration is telling the film and TV industry to clean up its act. But if Santa Clarita’s film festival is to achieve its aim--to promote the production of quality family entertainment--it needs to win over the movie makers, not the moralists.

“We’re not trying to proselytize,” Shoemaker says. “We’re trying to open up a dialogue.”

The problem with “family values,” of course, is defining the terms. Whose values? Whose family? Shoemaker and his wife, Suzanne, who make their living producing live entertainment, say the idea is to explore those questions. A family film, they suggest, could feature a gay couple who want to adopt.

The Shoemakers conceived the idea for a film festival in August with Mitch Matovich and his wife, Patty Dee. Matovich, 66, had a career in aerospace before embarking on his celluloid dreams. His first production was “I Don’t Buy Kisses Anymore,” a G-rated love story.

They share the conviction that movie makers are letting down a huge audience that wants more and better films that parents would feel comfortable sharing with their children. Why is there so much profanity, violence and sex? Why doesn’t Hollywood take more of a cue from the huge box office of such films as “Aladdin” and “E.T.”? How about another “Field of Dreams”?

This being Oscar week, it seems safe to say that much of Hollywood was utterly unaware of Santa Clarita’s answer to Cannes--and, no, there aren’t topless beaches up here.

Sharon Stone and Steven Seagal didn’t make it to this festival, but directors from as far as China and Poland came to showcase their works. Friz Freleng, the creator of Bugs Bunny, was honored for lifetime achievement. Jerry Mathers, the erstwhile “Beav,” presided over a panel on child actors. Dean Jones, who used to drive “The Love Bug,” participated on the “Morality and the Movies” panel.

This panel also provided a platform for film critic Michael Medved, whose book “Hollywood Versus America” takes The Biz to task for exploiting the dark side of human character. Other panelists included advocates of more descriptive ratings to inform parents of a movie’s content, such as L for profane language and N for nudity. To them, it’s a matter of truth in advertising.

After a screening of “Seasons of the Heart,” actress Leigh Lombardi agreed that wholesome sometimes seems like a dirty word in Hollywood. “I don’t see enough roles like this,” said Lombardi, who played the grieving Martha. The actress admits to a sci-fi flick she hopes her mother never sees. “But this one she’s showing to her church.”

“Seasons,” with its strong Christian theme, was made for video and is sold by mail order. Alas, it didn’t get much exposure here. Only six people attended the 5:30 p.m. screening.

Screenwriter Hofstedt, who happens to live in Santa Clarita, brought her 9-year-old daughter, Bonnie. I’m pretty sure that Hofstedt and Chris Shoemaker would disagree about “The Crying Game.” But both long for a day when the local video store features a wall devoted to quality films they could pick up with peace of mind--and not just kids’ fare, but movies that parents would enjoy as well.

As it is, it’s easier to find a section labeled “adult,” most of which is produced just down the quake-damaged freeway in the big, bad Valley. Utah, it ain’t.

But at least truth in advertising isn’t a problem. Just look at the video boxes.