Rick Stevenson has a mission. Actually, he has several. But everything is based on a single premise.

He wants the many better films currently being discarded by Hollywood to get to the public.

"There are a number of brilliant films the public never gets to see," said Stevenson, 53, a Seattle film director and producer. "The independents end up at the film festival, sometimes on video and maybe, once a year, we see something like Napoleon Dynamite that breaks through."

Stevenson is in Utah to pick up the "Spirit of Windrider" award given each year by The Windrider Forum, a coalition of Christian churches who meet annually at the Sundance Film Festival to honor those involved in creating and producing uplifting films.

Windrider Forum founder John Priddy said he first met Stevenson when his film "Expiration Date" screened at the True West Film Festival in Boise in 2007.

"Rick Stevenson combines all the attributes of a Windrider recipient. He's extraordinarily talented. He does work that is cinematically excellent. He's the true definition of a humanitarian," Priddy said. "He's so humble and understated in what he's accomplished and then you look at his bio and his experience and it's truly amazing."

Stevenson said of the 25,000 films made each year worldwide, only 600 are distributed and 500 of those are produced in Hollywood by the major studios. Only about 25 of those are terrific, Stevenson said.

The rest are predictable and dark and made for the masses.

"The good news is that it's still the wild west," he said. "We can still change things."

"I feel there is really never a reason to make a film without hope," Stevenson said. "I have two goals in a film, tell a story honestly and have something redeeming to say."

Currently, he is screening "Expiration Date" at the BYU Varsity Theatre and at the LDS Film Festival in Orem at the SCERA in February.

Stevenson has two family-friendly films, "Magic in the Water" and "The Dinosaur Hunter" for sale in stores and on Amazon.com.

He has linked up with 80 other filmmakers in the "Official Best of Fest" group dedicated to getting more good, independent films into the mainstream market.

As part of their effort, boxed sets of previously unavailable films are being offered to families who shop at Deseret Book, Nordstrom, Amazon.com and other retail outlets, sets like "Fourteen Award-winning Films for Kids" and "Films to Make You Laugh."

Stevenson is not interested in flooding the market with films that don't deserve an audience.

In fact, he's adamant about the value of the films he's pushing. The films are not throwaway movies, he said. They're entertaining as well as positive.

"Because a movie is about a boy and a dog, it doesn't have to be stupid or predictable or stupid," he said. "Every film we're going for you will at the minimum, respect and like. There's, of course, no guarantee that everyone will like the same thing. But I can guarantee people will respect every film."

He also makes it clear that he doesn't believe in or advocate censorship. He does believe in warning people about the content in a film they pay to see or rent.

"I have such affection for the Mormon audience. I'm not LDS but my wife is Mormon and my stepchildren are Mormon."
The Film Festival is held in the Scera Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. Movies will be played up until Saturday evening. More information is available at the Web site, www.ldsfilmfestival.org.

E-mail: Haddoc@desnews.com