I built a spaceship in my mom’s backyard, chasing fields of Hollywood dreams in Utah County. 

Cinema’s in our blood, beating through Utah’s copper veins. Motion pictures and Utah are aged about the same, and our siren song as a mountaintop film refuge lures many to Bonneville’s shores. It called Chaplin when he came to cut “The Kid.” Ford spent decades here, capturing Monument Valley’s heavenly splendor. Redford built an indie empire. Everyone from Spielberg to me, that kid shooting space odysseys on backyard sets, has been touched by Utah’s singular magic.

Every filmed moment projected back tells Utah’s story, offering slices of the beehive’s past, trapped in 24 frames of honeyed amber.

Maybe that spaceship couldn’t really fly, but on screen it soars forever.