Sundance 2020: The Killing of Two Lovers superbly crafted, beautifully filmed story about troubled marriage in tiny rural town

The town portrayed in the Sundance premiere of The Killing of Two Lovers is so small that David, who is staying at his father’s home while he and Nikki try to figure out if their marriage is salvageable, easily can see everything going on in the lives of his wife and four kids in the … Read more

Sundance 2020: Come Away exceptional entry to Kids slate with masterful storytelling

The exceptional Come Away, the first feature-length live action film directed by Brenda Chapman with first-time screenwriter Marissa Kate Goodhill, has the same extraordinary depth as a masterpiece from nearly 15 years ago, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). Come Away is receiving its world premiere on the Sundance Kids slate, curated by the Utah … Read more

Sundance 2020: Epicentro marvelous, intriguing portrait of Cuba’s ‘little prophets’

Introducing her 1995 anthology, Bridges to Cuba / Puentes a Cuba, Cuban-American anthropologist and author Ruth Behar wrote that her collection is “a meeting place, an open space, a castle in the sand, an imaginary homeland. It is a space for reconciliation, imaginative speculation and renewal.” Receiving its Sundance premiere, the documentary Epicentro, directed by … Read more

Sundance 2020: Belgium’s Binti makes insightful gem of a U.S. premiere in festival’s Kids slate

Making its U.S. premiere in the Sundance Kids slate this year, Binti, an insightful gem from Belgium, directed and written by Frederike Migom, touches on an immigration issue of sociopolitical urgency that resonates in the U.S. just as powerfully if not more than in the country in which the story is based. Binti, 12, a … Read more

Sundance 2020: Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren and Stimpy Story absorbing, sharp, potent, immaculately researched documentary

If there was one episode from The Ren & Stimpy Show, the cartoon which aired on Nickelodeon in the first half of the 1990s, which encapsulated its creator’s mindset, it was the Christmas season episode Son of Stimpy. Stimpy breaks wind, convinced that he has given birth to ‘Stinky.’ Ren, of course, does not believe … Read more

Sundance 2020: Nine documentaries, a world premiere creative nonfiction biography, three dramatic narratives, three Sundance Kids films highlight Utah connections to festival selections

Editor’s Note: This is Part II of The Utah Review curtain raiser feature for Sundance 2020. Part I can be found here. It is a fixture in the annual slate of films for Sundance that the Utah Film Center, its cofounder Geralyn Dreyfous and the group to which she belongs Impact Partners Film will be associated with some of … Read more

Sundance 2020: Utah’s film industry punches well above its weight class, opening doors for indie directors, producers

EDITOR’S NOTE: Part I covers a broad overview of the state’s film industry and Part II focuses on 16 films with a significant Utah connection that are in the Sundance 2020 slate. On the eve of the most inclusive and diverse Sundance Film Festival in its history (Jan. 23 – Feb. 2 in Park City, … Read more

Utah Film Center, KUER-FM’s RadioWest slate Dec. 11 screening for Errol Morris’ American Dharma

Several months before The Brink, Alison Klayman’s documentary about Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart News chair who served briefly as President Trump’s chief White House strategist, premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Errol Morris’ American Dharma was seen for the first time at the 2018 Venice Film Festival. Some dismayed critics were flabbergasted that … Read more

Utah Symphony’s America’s Wonders concert in 3-D registered plenty of sensory delights

What does it mean to taste sound, or connect it to other senses besides hearing? Some individuals have synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon, in which music, for example, allows the listener to see musical notes in different shades of colors. Scientists also believe that even individuals who do not have synesthesia actually can experience similar effects … Read more

Excellent class of 2019 Spy Hop PitchNic films ready for festival submissions

The ambitious objectives for all the student film teams participating in this year’s 17th annual PitchNic project for Spy Hop Productions paid handsomely in a solid quartet of short films, all of which are worthy to submit to competitive film festivals nationally and even internationally. The films premiered Nov. 7 at a sold-out house in … Read more