Provo » A trailblazing Mormon movie turns 10 this year, and the film genre it spawned may be ready to grow up, too.

So hopes Richard Dutcher, whose film "God's Army" virtually created LDS cinema after delighting audiences in 2000.

Dutcher, a frequent critic since then of LDS films, doesn't hate Mormon movies; he just expects more from them.

"I am a firm supporter of LDS filmmakers," Dutcher said, sitting in a conference room at his Main Street Movie Co. in Provo. "I want them to make better films than I am seeing."

He wants Mormon filmmakers to evolve and chronicle the majesty and power of LDS culture, history and doctrine, just as he tried with "God's Army," "Brigham City" and "States of Grace."

Besides giving rise to the genre, Dutcher also has been one of its main critics. In a 2007 op-ed piece in a Provo newspaper, Dutcher scolded LDS filmmakers for the light comedies that dominated the market for the better part of a decade, challenging them to make movies that would leave viewers "weak in the knees, their minds reeling, their spirits soaring."

He also used that article to announce that he had embarked on a spiritual journey that was taking him away from LDS orthodoxy but might bring him back someday.

Dutcher explained this week that he found his spirituality and filmmaking were intertwined, and that movies allowed him to explore spiritual matters.

"By continuing to explore, I found myself standing outside [Mormonism]," said Dutcher, who noted that he remains on LDS membership rolls even though he does not practice the religion.

He stressed that he has the greatest respect for the faith and will stand up for it. He sees its history and doctrine as a gold mine that filmmakers should explore. And he hopes that will happen.

In time, he added, individual LDS filmmakers will start to make movies that matter.

"There are kids who were 13, 14 when ["God's Army"] came out and have decided to become filmmakers," Dutcher said. "Maybe this generation that is coming up will look back on what happened and that will be the rebirth of the movement."

Kurt Hale, one of the founders of Halestorm Entertainment, acknowledges that LDS cinema went through immaturity in its adolescence, but it is maturing.

Still, Hale argues there is a place for both light comedies -- like Halestorm's "Singles Ward" -- and the deep dramas Dutcher advocates.

"If Hollywood had only played one note," Hale said, "it would have dried up years ago."

The marketplace, he added, ultimately decides which movies survive and weeds out the opportunists trying to make a quick buck and the expense of quality.

While "God's Army" marks its 10th anniversary this year, LDS cinema actually was born five years earlier on a Burbank, Calif., patio a half-block from Warner Brothers' studio. Dutcher, grilling hamburgers for his wife and kids, was scanning the week's movie listings when he had an "aha" moment.

"Aside from the big blockbusters coming out," Dutcher said, "there were reviews and ads for movies for the Indian community. Black independent filmmaking was doing quite well, and gay and lesbian films were taking off."

So, he wondered, why can't Mormons have their own cinema?

They can. "God's Army" proved that. Dutcher expected other LDS filmmakers to follow with quality scripts. But none was ready. Instead, quirky comedies ("The Singles Ward" and "The R.M.") mocking LDS culture gutted the market.

"It was as though," Dutcher recalled, "the black independent filmmakers decided to make minstrel shows."

Hale sees it differently.

"This would be like Martin Scorsese calling up Adam Sandler and telling him to stop making comedies because he didn't feel they were the kind of movies he would make."

Dutcher said he didn't move quickly enough to bring out "States of Grace," a sequel to "God's Army." He had spent years trying to get funding for a film about LDS Church founder Joseph Smith. The genre lost momentum toward quality, and the Smith movie remains on the back burner.

Dutcher said he realized audiences were souring on LDS films when Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby, a fan of the filmmaker's work, told him he refused to see "States of Grace." Kirby, he recalled, dismissed it as another "dumb" Mormon movie.

"If I couldn't get Robert Kirby to buy a movie ticket," Dutcher said, "how hard was it going to be to get the average LDS moviegoer?"

Dutcher's last LDS film, "Falling," focused on a lapsed LDS videographer and his wife. The R-rated movie is grittier than most seen by Mormons, but Dutcher wanted to challenge a professor's notion that there was no such thing as tragedy in LDS art, even though the faith's history and scriptures carry multiple examples.

Dutcher is preparing for the American release of "Evil Angel," a modern retelling of the legend of Lillith, Adam's first wife who was thrown out of Eden for refusing to submit to God's authority. That movie, which is making the rounds of international festivals, stars Ving Rhames.

dmeyers@sltrib.com