Utah Arts Festival 2019: Final preview of 43rd Utah Arts Festival highlights largest programs ever, many new faces in multidisciplinary venues

EDITOR’S NOTE: Links embedded in this Utah Arts Festival preview direct readers to the various festival features that have been published in The Utah Review since June 6. Pleasant temperatures and sunny days will mark the 43rd Utah Arts Festival, when it opens tomorrow (June 20) and runs daily through Sunday (June 23), noon to … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: 17th annual Fear No Film brings new programming elements, record-setting slate of 88 short films

EDITOR’S NOTE: To read more about this year’s Fear No Film slate, see here, and the Utah Short Film of the Year competition, see here. There are many new enhancements in programming for the 17th annual Fear No Film program at the Utah Arts Festival. Following the outstanding curatorial leadership of Topher Horman, Derek Mellus, … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: Two divisions comprise the largest ever Utah Short Film of the Year competition at Fear No Film

This year’s Utah Short Film of the Year Competition is the largest in Fear No Film history for the Utah Arts Festival, as it has been split into two divisions: student, with six films; and professional, with seven. Awards will be based on jury selections and audience voting. The Best of the Best will be … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: A detailed look at 17th annual Fear No Film program schedule

This year’s record-setting slate of 88 short films for the Utah Arts Festival’s Fear No Film venue will be presented in 12 programs during the event’s four days. All screenings will be in the City Library auditorium and are free and open to the public. Each of the programs is summarized below. For the Women … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: Women Who Rock! Day to highlight music, literary activities, Fear No Film screening, CodeDevs workshop

This year at the Utah Arts Festival, June 21 (Friday) is dedicated to Women Who Rock!, with female musicians, poets, writers and spoken word performers set on various stages along with a Fear No Film program and a coding workshop for girls headed by two sisters who work locally as software developers and engineers. The … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: The City Library’s partnership with the festival in one word: ‘Fantastic’

Rare is the sentiment that can be expressed simply and unequivocally as Peter Bromberg, the executive director of the Salt Lake City Public Library, describes the partnership which the downtown institution has enjoyed with the Utah Arts Festival. Bromberg has one word. “Fantastic.” Calling it one of the “best annual festivals in the Mountain West,” … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: What’s the new vibe for the 43rd edition? Many new faces, events at all venues

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review begins its preview coverage today of the 43rd Utah Arts Festival, which will be held June 20-23, noon to 11 p.m. daily, on the Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City. As this is the state’s largest multidisciplinary arts and cultural gathering each year, The Utah Review considers the Utah … Read more

Inaugural Queer Spectra Arts Festival explores multiple facets of queer aesthetic

Setting an appropriate tone in a community gearing up for the upcoming Utah Pride Parade and Festival in downtown Salt Lake City, the inaugural Queer Spectra Arts Festival took place last weekend in the Commonwealth Studios in South Salt Lake. Artists and speakers addressed the impetus and inspirations for the queer creative aesthetic – or, … Read more

Pre-Pride events: Award-winning Rafiki, Before Stonewall in free public screenings by Utah Film Center, Utah Pride Center

Two award-winning films with LGBTQ themes — a 2018 Kenyan narrative feature and a 1984 documentary about five decades of gay activism leading up to the Stonewall riots of 1969 — will be screened in separate free, public programs, courtesy of the Utah Film Center and the Utah Pride Center. Both films, part of the … Read more

Utah Film Center’s fundraiser to celebrate Napoleon Dynamite’s 15th anniversary

There are many reasons why the sleeper hit comedy Napoleon Dynamite (2004) deserves to be the pride of the Utah film industry. Directed by Jared Hess and written by Hess and his wife Jerusha, it has become a timeless pop culture staple featuring authentic characters and tropes who epitomized the high school scene that remains … Read more