He is a father of eight and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and has produced films in the past for the Mormon church, a nontrinitarian religion founded in the 19th century in New York.
Hittman has said that in researching her film, she visited Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the country, and pretended to be a pregnant woman in need of aid in order to gain access to pro-life pregnancy centers.
“Abortion tourism,” the topic of the film, is common in the United States as some states move to restrict abortion, while others seek to liberalize it.
TV ratings for this year’s Oscars ceremony on April 25 were the lowest in the event’s history, with viewership dipping below 10 million for the first time, Deadline reported.
The New York Times called the ceremony, held in Los Angeles’ Union Station, “one of the odder Oscar nights in memory.” The telecast did not feature a host, showed fewer clips from nominated films than in previous years, and received criticism for rushing the In Memoriam segment.
Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville tweeted, “I turned on the Oscars for about 4 minutes. Horrible. I used to enjoy Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. Now it seems, there are a bunch of dysfunctional people who have lost all sense of morality thinking they have right to tell others how to live. No wonder our nation is dysfunctional. Who cares what they think? Movies are filled with violence, immorality, confusion and the list goes on. By the way, I decided to read instead and listen to some jazz.”
Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, starring Francis McDormand, took home the statuette for Best Picture, and Zhao the award for best director. Deacon Stephen Greydanus of the National Catholic Register has called Nomadland “one of the best films of 2020.”