Garrett Batty is an American film director, writer, and producer known for his film '' The Saratov Approach''. He is a graduate of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

and a native of

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. Most of the city is within Summit County, Utah, Summit County, with some portions extending into Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is sou ...

. He is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, (LDS Church) and his films are part of

Mormon cinema Mormon cinema usually refers to films with themes relevant to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term has also been used to refer to films that do not necessarily reflect Mormon themes but have been made ...

, but with a more general audience. He has written, directed, and produced four full-length films, including ''Freetown'' (2015) and ''

Out of Liberty Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 * ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander * ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese ...

'' (2019), and will begin work on a fifth in 2020. For ''Freetown'', he was awarded the 2015 Ghana Movie Award for Best Screenplay alongside Melissa Leilani Larson.

Early life and education

As a young boy in

, Batty began making short films. He attended

Park City High School Park City High School is a public high school located at 1750 Kearns Boulevard in Park City, Utah, Park City, Utah, United States. It is one of eight public schools in the Park City School District and serves tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grad ...

and often attended the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. In both high school and college, Batty participated in acting, improv comedy, and filmmaking. After serving an

LDS mission A mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether o ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, he graduated from

in 2001 with a film degree. He is a member of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

Professional career

During his early career in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, Batty edited TV pilot episodes, trailers, and DVDs. He often worked with LDS film companies such as

Excel Entertainment Excel Entertainment is an Indian production company, founded by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar in Mumbai in 1999. They mainly produce Hindi films. Their debut production, ''Dil Chahta Hai'', received critical acclaim and was a huge rage f ...

and

Halestorm Entertainment Halestorm Entertainment was a film production and distribution company based in Orem, Utah. It was founded in January 2001 by Kurt Hale and Dave Hunter, who were both film majors at Brigham Young University. Halestorm films were largely create ...

. He later moved to

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, where he and his wife adopted three children. He was inspired by LDS films such as ''

The Singles Ward ''The Singles Ward'' film series consists of two low-budget Mormon cinema, Mormon Comedy film, comedies based on original characters, co-written by Kurt Hale and John Moyer (comedian, screenwriter), John Moyer. The overall premise centers around ...

'', and after moving to Utah, filmed ''Mormon Messages'' for the

. He began a production company, Three Coin Productions, in 1993. His short film "#Pound# 646" was shown at the 2008 LDS Film Festival and later compiled into the Best of LDS Film Festival 2008 DVD. In 2009 he wrote, directed, and produced ''Scout Camp'', a movie about a group of

boy scouts Boy Scouts or Boy Scout may refer to: * Members, sections or organisations in the Scouting Movement ** Scout (Scouting), a boy or a girl participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouting America, formerly known as Boy Scouts of America ...

starring Shawn Carter and

Kirby Heyborne Kirby Heyborne (born October 8, 1977) is an American actor, musician, singer, songwriter, narrator and comedian. He is known for his work in LDS cinema, films centered around the culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Chur ...

. Batty drew from his own experiences as a boy scout, and the actors who played scoutmasters improvised many of their lines for comedic effect. According to Batty, the film produced enough money to "pay back all of tsinvestors." While continuing to work for the Church, he began working on '' The Saratov Approach'', a film based on the true story of the 1998 kidnapping of LDS missionaries in Saratov, Russia. Batty first heard the story as a college student, and resolved to one day tell it through film. He obtained permission from the men who had been kidnapped, then began working on the script while recovering from heart surgery. It was released on October 9, 2013, and grossed $2.1 million; it was Batty's first theatrical release. According to ''

The Daily Universe ''The Universe'' (formerly ''The Daily Universe'') is the official student newspaper for Brigham Young University (BYU) and was started in 1956. History BYU's student-published newspaper was first titled ''White and Blue'' (1898–1921), later b ...

'', ''Saratov'' "shattered all previous LDS movie records." After ''Saratov'''s success, Batty released another film documenting a true story about LDS missionaries, ''Freetown'', in 2015. Filmed in six weeks in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, it depicts the missionaries' struggles during the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...

. Batty worked alongside screenwriter Melissa Leilani Larson on ''Freetown'', for which they were awarded the 2015 Ghana Movie Award for Best Screenplay. In 2019, Batty directed, wrote, and produced ''Out of Liberty'', a drama western about the imprisonment of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...

, told from lesser-known jailer Samuel Tillery's perspective. It grossed $265,279. According to the ''Daily Herald,'' Batty will begin filming a movie about missionaries in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in 2020.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

* Winner of the 2014 Filmed in Utah Award for Best Screenplay (''The Saratov Approach'') * Winner of the 2014 Filmed in Utah Award for Best Director (''The Saratov Approach'') * Winner of the 2014 Filmed in Utah Award for Best Feature Film (''The Saratov Approach'') * Winner of the 2014

AML Award The AML Awards are given annually by the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) to the best work "by, for, and about Mormons." They are juried awards, chosen by a panel of judges. Citations for many of the awards can be found on the AML website. ...

(film category) (''The Saratov Approach'') * Winner of the 2015 Ghana Movie Award for Best Screenplay (''Freetown'', with Melissa Leilani Larson) * Nominated for the 2015 Ghana Movie Award for Directing (''Freetown'') * Nominated for the 2015 Ghana Movie Award for Best Picture (''Freetown'') * Finalist for the 2015

(film category) (''Freetown'') * Nominated for the 2016 Black Reel Award for Best Foreign Film (''Freetown'') * Nominated for the 2016 Nigerian Entertainment Award for Best Picture (Non-Nigerian) (''Freetown'') * Finalist for the 2019 AML Award (narrative-feature-film category) (''Out of Liberty'')2019 AML Award Winners
by Andrew Hall. ''Dawning of a Brighter Day''.

Association for Mormon Letters Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

. 2 May 2020. Accessed 2 May 2020.

References

External links

Three Coin Productions website
*
Latter-day Profiles interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batty, Garrett Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Park City, Utah Brigham Young University alumni Latter Day Saints from Utah Film producers from Utah Film directors from Utah American film editors Screenwriters from Utah