This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Utah filmmaking team is going to bat for an embattled author and activist — and taking on one of the titans of broadcast journalism.
Married Salt Lake City filmmakers Jennifer Jordan and Jeff Rhoads last week launched a fund-raising campaign for their newest movie, "3000 Cups of Tea: The Mission and Madness of Greg Mortensen," an investigative documentary about Mortensen's work establishing schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The film aims to challenge accusations made against Mortensen, who wrote of his exploits in his best-seller "Three Cups of Tea," in a 2011 report on the TV newsmagazine "60 Minutes." The TV show accused Mortensen of lying about his adventures, relying on the reporting of author Jon Krakauer ("Into Thin Air," "Under the Banner of Heaven").
Jordan, in a video trailer for the film, accuses "60 Minutes" of shoddy journalism by, among other things, not visiting the Pakistani village of Korphe — where Mortensen claimed in his book he arrived after an exhausting descent from the Himalayan mountain K2.
Jordan's past credits include producing and writing the documentaries "Kick Like a Girl" and "Boys of Bonneville," and creating the documentary "Women of K2" (which Rhoads directed and photographed).
Serving as executive producer on "3000 Cups of Tea" is Utah Film Center founder Geralyn White Dreyfous, whose credits include the Oscar-winning "Born Into Brothels."