I This film festival 'Trip' is gathering critics' bountiful praise V by RICK BROUGH jP Record staff writer 1 P.i One fact should be made clear : J, from the outset. "The Trip to Boun-C5 Boun-C5 tiful" is not a film about a trip to 1 Bountiful, Utah. 3 But the film is co-produced by a Utahn, Sterling VanWagenen. It has K received glowing reviews and was p named one of the year's 10 best films y tne National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. And it will be the opening night premiere for the ! "i United States Film Fesitval in Park jV City Jan. 17. In an interview with the Record, i VanWagenen said the success of pt "Bountiful," his first feature film, has whetted his appetite for more film producing. But he has no illusions illu-sions about his future. Some producers, pro-ducers, he said, become stars in the press, like David "Chariots of Fire" Putnam. Others, he said, are "consigned "con-signed to oblivion." The creative center of "Bountiful," "Boun-tiful," he said, is author and co-producer co-producer Horton Foote, known as the writer of "Tender Mercies" and the adapter for the screen of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Foote's story, "The Trip to Bountiful," Boun-tiful," actually was written 30 years ago for TV's "Philco Goodyear Playhouse." It was about an old woman who lives in a one-bedroom Houston apartment in 1947 and thinks back on her life in Bountiful, Texas, where she grew up, married and had children. Only one child, a son, survived and her relationship with him and her daughter-in-law is contentious. So the old woman runs away from home to go back to Bountiful, i The old woman was played on TV by Lillian Gish, who also repeated the role on Broadway. In the , current version, VanWagenen Van-Wagenen said, the part is taken by Geraldine Page. John Heard plays her son, Carlin Glynn is her daughter-in-law and Rebecca de Mornay is one of the many people she meets during her trip. As in other Foote stories, the film shows a concern for simple humanity, humani-ty, said VanWagenen. If people liked "Tender Mercies," they will like this film also, he said. This is the first time VanWagenen will appear at the festival as a creative artist. But he helped to found the event in 1978 and he is vice president for programs for The Sundance Sun-dance Institute, based in the Provo Canyon, which sponsors the festival. He has produced documentaries and directed a short film for public television. But he had never done a feature film until he was recruited by Peter Masterson, the director of "Bountiful," who had been a resource person at The Sundance In stitute. VanWagenen undertook a job that is "akin to going to war," he said. "You're under siege." He had to secure the money for the film, hire the crew, cast actors and arrange for distribution when the film was done. Producers, he said, tend to become one of two types the kind who is most interested in making the deals or the type who is interested in shaping an environment for good creative work. VanWagenen said he is definitely inclined to be the latter. The most difficult job, he said, was to create the period of the late 1940s on the film's budget of under $3 million. By contrast, about $30 million was spent on "Out of Africa," another period film, starring starr-ing VanWagenen's friend and associate, Robert Redford. There is another major difference between the films. "Africa" is clearly clear-ly a major studio feature film. "Bountiful" is an independent- produced pro-duced film. The wall of separation between these two film worlds is as solid as ever, VanWagenen said. But both movies are getting favorable attention. "I keep sending him (Redford) the good reviews (about 'Bountiful')," VanWagenen said. There's a good chance that Redford Red-ford will get a lot of mail this winter.