Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2021: Masterful examples of queer historiography and archival activism in Cured, No Straight Lines, P.S. Burn This Letter Please documentaries

Call it archive activism. The historiography on the topics of social change in the U.S., queer rights and queer culture is advanced significantly in three documentaries being presented in the Utah Film’s Center’s 18th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival.  In each film, primary sources, archival footage and letters and documents not seen for … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2021: Innovations in narrative treatment shine in We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Madalena

Outstanding innovations in thematic treatment are prevalent in numerous feature-length narratives in the Utah Film’s Center’s 18th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival. Two of the most compelling examples are Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, which premiered at this year’s Sundance, and tthe Brazilian film Madalena, directed by Madiano Marcheti. … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2021: Stories from the former Soviet Union, Republic of Georgia highlight oppression queer citizens have faced and continue to do so

The oppression that queer citizens faced in the former Soviet Union and continue to do so in the independent republics today drives the heart of two films screening in the Utah Film’s Center’s 18th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival. The first, set in the final days of the Soviet Union as perestroika took … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2021: Finding empathy in difficult reunions: See You Then and Ma Belle, My Beauty solid additions to feature narrative lineup

Two excellent queer cinema entries — one which received its premiere at this year’s SXSW festival and is receiving its Utah premiere and the second which made its debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival — highlight the solid feature-length narrative sections for the Utah Film’s Center’s 18th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival. … Read more

Largest slate ever with drive-in, outdoor events, online streaming, in-person screenings mark Utah Film Center’s 18th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review is providing daily coverage of the Utah Film Center’s 18th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival. Follow daily for feature reviews of the 2021 slate during the festival. The Utah Film’s Center’s 18th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival, the longest running festival of its kind in the … Read more

Utah filmmaking team set to premiere YouTube Originals documentary World Debut: From Outsiders to the Olympics 16 days before beginning of Tokyo Games

In a recent South China Morning Post article focusing on the Olympics’ less-than-enthusiastic appeal for younger audiences, Jack Lau cited statistics from the Ad Age trade publication indicating that the median age of American viewers for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro was 52.4 years. To cite Lau, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sees … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s video production of Audrey Cefaly’s Alabaster receives outstanding rolling world/Utah premiere

Peculiar yet approachable, alternating between effulgent and piercing, complex and elucidating, Audrey Cefaly’s play Alabaster on paper, at first glance, might not be the ideal candidate for a filmed theatrical production, especially as part of the National New Play Network’s Rolling World Premiere program. Alabaster’s intricately woven elaborate character textures make for ideal stage pyrotechnics … Read more

Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation’s on-demand concert series closes with pianist Steven Mayer, violinist Igor Pikayzen with Franck violin sonata, transcriptions of Gottschalk, Bizet’s Carmen

Pick a short program of music to celebrate the effusive spirit of spring in May and it would be hard to top the combination of a rousing mix of Latin tropical dance rhythms, the pyrotechnics of an adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen and a violin sonata composed as a wedding gift. The Gina Bachauer International Piano … Read more

Ballet West’s documentary series In The Balance: Ballet for a Lost Year set for May 7 premiere on social media

In The Dance of The Building, the ingeniously crafted sixth episode of the In The Balance: Ballet for a Lost Year documentary series, one of the crew leaders for setting the stage of Ballet West’s performances in the Capitol Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City, explains that the real legacy of civilizations in history comprises … Read more

Two memorable season closing films: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Homage, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Cadence

Two of Salt Lake City’s historically significant dance institutions — Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company — are concluding this unusual season with new concert films. Both films end on an encouraging note, signaling a hopeful return next fall to their regular performing venue in the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts. Both … Read more