BYU-TV, BYU in Provo's television studio, recently completed production of Beyond the Dream: The Story of the Polynesian Cultural Center and has scheduled several premier showings in Laie.
The approximately hour-long production, which BYU-TV and LDS Church Media Department crews started making during the Cultural Center's 40th anniversary in October 2003, debuted June 16 in the IMAX Theater for PCC employees and family members.
It will also start to air on BYU television, which is carried on the BYU-Hawaii campus-wide cable broadcast system, on Sunday, June 20, at 6 and 9 p.m., and Sunday, June 27, at 9 p.m.
The production traces the 40-year history of the Polynesian Cultural Center, which started years before the actual opening on October 12, 1963. For example, it features important contributions by Elder Matthew Cowley, Edward L. Clissold, Wendell B. Mendenhall, community members who started the hukilau in Laie, the early students at the Church College of Hawaii who started a performing group, the labor missionaries, and key management leaders.
It also includes many islanders, including the Te Arohanui o Te Iwi Maori group from New Zealand, who sacrificed and struggled to help the fledgling Center get off the ground. Dozens of employees, alumni, students and others share their comments in the production.
"There have been many who have participated in the production of this film," said President Von Orgill at the Polynesian Cultural Center premier of Beyond the Dream. He especially recognized the BYU-TV team who came for the preview, including John L. Reim, CEO and Managing Director of KBYU; Marcy Brown, producer; Liz Thomas, director; and Diena Simmons, director of broadcasting.
Invited to speak, Brown said she knew "many of you in this room tonight because I have had the great privilege of sitting in front of the footage that was shot here last October during the 40th anniversary celebration, and hearing and feeling the spirit of so many of you who lent your time and stories to this project. We would have liked to include so many more than we were able to do, because there are so many wonderful stories to be told about the Center."
"I sensed the important role that each person has played in bringing their particular part of the story into coming to pass," Brown continued. "I have an absolute testimony that this Center came together in exactly the way and timing it should have, and it has a magnificent future."
President Orgill confirmed that during a recent visit to the BYU-TV studios he saw a "rack with row after row of these blue cases of all the interviews they did...hours and hours of them. Only a small portion of that can get into this film."
Reim explained the "genesis of this film and the genius that motivated it" came from overhearing President Orgill and BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway talking about the close relationship between the two institutions. He also said "there's a great deal of material that's not in this film" that might be made into yet another film.
"I too, have a sense of this place," Reim said, recalling he first came to the Center and BYU-Hawaii five years ago when KBYU was formed to "portray the beginnings of the diversity in the Church on television. You truly represent the gospel of Jesus Christ."
"This has been a wonderful experience, a building experience for us," he added. "Thank you for who you are and the dedication you have demonstrated over the years. Thank you for sharing your vision, your experience and your story with us."