See also: Other Upcoming Films Not Yet in Production

Ranked by Box Office Ticket Sales $ Top Latter-day Saint Film Directors *

(who are currently directing) 1. Kieth Merrill

2. Don Bluth

3. Richard Rich

4. Bruce Neibaur

5. Jared Hess

6. Neil LaBute

7. Perry Andelin Blake

8. Mitch Davis

9. Richard Dutcher

10. Russ Holt

11. Kurt Hale

12. Steven Ramirez

13. Gary Rogers

14. Ryan Little

15. Scott S. Anderson

16. Adam Thomas Anderegg

17. Blair Treu

18. Andrew Black

19. Sterling Van Wagenen

20. Christian Vuissa

21. John E. Moyer

22. Will Swenson

23. Kels Goodman

24. Eric Hendershot

25. Nathan Smith Jones * Based on total career North American box office gross. Detailed box office data for these directors can be found here. Ranked by Critical Response Latter-day Saint Feature Film Directors

(who are currently working) 1. Sterling Van Wagenen

2. Neil LaBute

3. Scott S. Anderson

4. Jared Hess

5. Richard Dutcher

6. Ryan Little

7. Andrew Black

8. Blair Treu

9. Don Bluth

10. Russ Holt

11. Bruce Neibaur

12. Kels Goodman

13. Kurt Hale

14. Scott Swofford

15. Rick Schroder

16. Richard Rich

17. Nathan Smith Jones

18. Mitch Davis

19. Adam Thomas Anderegg

20. Christian Vuissa

21. Steven Ramirez

22. Gary Rogers

23. Adam Lawson

24. Perry Andelin Blake * Based on average of RottenTomatoes.com ranking combined with average review grade for theatrically released films. The RottenTomatoes.com score is the percentage of reviews that were mainly positive, out of the total number of reviews. The average review grade is an average of number, letter, and star grades, standardized to the same scale. Full data set can be found here.



Because his films are older or played in a limited number of theaters, there are insufficient reviews for ranking Academy Award-winner Kieth Merrill.



Best Independent LDS Videos Best Latter-day Saint-themed

Independent Direct-to-Video Narrative Films

1. Roots & Wings (2002), dir. Christian Vuissa

2. Only Once (1998), dir. Rocco DeVilliers

3. A Pioneer Miracle (2003), dir. T.C. Christensen

4. Fourth Witness: The Mary Whitmer Story (1996), dir. Spencer Filichia

5. Christmas Mission (1998), dir. Michael L. Schaertl

6. Saturday's Warrior (1989), dir. Bob Williams

7. Dear John (2004), dir. John Lyde

8. Eliza and I (1997), dir. Richard Dutcher

9. A Truce with Death (1993), dir. Bill Shira Note that only films with Latter-day Saint characters are included on this list. Gospel-themed films, including stories from the Bible, as well as documentaries were not considered for this list. Church-produced films and feature films which had a traditional theatrical release were not considered.

Notes about Filmography Pages

this color are made-for-television (or cable TV) movies or specials

Nearly without exception, all IMAX films listed here are documentaries. Most PBS productions listed here are documentaries, so they may not be also noted with a "d".





Additional Notes about LDS Filmography Pages

* Names with asterisk: Published biographical sketch doesn't mention religious affilation, but person is from and/or lives in an area of Utah (or Cardston, Rexburg, etc.) in which at least 70% of the population are Latter-day Saints. Aside from those asterisk-marked filmmakers (who may or may not be LDS), all of the filmmakers and actors named on the LDS filmography pages are Latter-day Saints. With a few exceptions, all are active/practicing church members (or were while they were alive). Films have NOT been listed on these pages based on any determination of church activity, but non-practicing LDS filmmakers rarely discuss their church membership in media interviews. Hence, we are unaware of them and unable to add their films to these lists.

1 Superscript 1: Latter-day Saints that are not active churchgoers, or inviduals who were previously churchgoing Latter-day Saints but no longer are. With deceased individuals (e.g. Hal Ashby), refers to individuals who were Latter-day Saints, but were not active Churchgoers during the bulk of their career and when they died.

Note: Most films created by Latter-day Saint filmmakers are not made primarily for LDS audiences, even if they incorporate Latter-day Saint Christian values. This website is NOT any sort of "suggested viewing list." There are some great films listed here. But many of these films simply represent the work of working actors or filmmakers. Also, there are over 3,000 films listed on these pages; it would be senseless to try to see them all.

Mormon films/ LDS films/ Mormon Cinema/ LDS filmmakers /Mormon movies/ films by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints web page created 22 Aug. 2000. This page was last modified 25 June 2009.