Sundance 2024: Superb, spellbinding and unsettling, Eternal You documentary critiques technology’s quest to ‘keep the dead alive’

Up until 2007, Facebook deleted the profiles of any deceased persons but in the aftermath of the shootings in the 2007 Virginia Tech University massacre, many students at the school organized a grassroots campaign to persuade the social media giant to reverse its policy. Students talked about how they turned to Facebook to grieve those … Read more

Sundance 2024: Mesmerizing and riveting, Love Machina blends love story into earnest belief in benevolent possibilities of technology

After watching Love Machina (C41 Media), one of the films in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, one can truly hope that the benevolent vision of singularity which Martine and Bina Rothblatt espouse will come to fruition. Directed by Peter Sillen, the documentary traverses a lot of advanced technological territory — … Read more

Sundance 2024: A New Kind of Wilderness is pensive, intimate documentary of virtues of pastoral life, sustaining memories of mother’s legacy

There is a persistent pensive tone in the ode to the virtues of pastoral life in A New Kind of Wilderness, a Norwegian documentary directed by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, which received its premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. The film opens … Read more

Sundance 2024: From Mexico, Sujo is astounding, brilliantly acted, superbly written narrative feature

Few journalists covering the relentless violence of cartels, narcos and sicarios in Mexico were closer to chronicling the direct human impact of the ferocious drug wars than the late Javier Valdez, who was assassinated because of his investigative reporting. In his weekly column Mala­yerba, which was slang for marijuana, he brought to light stories about … Read more

Sundance 2024: Scott Cummings’ Realm of Satan makes for aesthetically pleasing, absorbing experiential documentary

In January 2021, a historic home in Poughkeepsie, New York, which was built in 1900 and used by members of the Church of Satan (COS), was destroyed by arson. Known as the Halloween House which was a popular spot for trick or treaters, it was owned by Joe “Netherworld” Mendillo, a church member whom COS … Read more

Sundance 2024: Documentaries predominate list on deck for The Utah Review festival coverage

EDITOR’S NOTE: Part II summarizes the films and programs from Sundance 2024 that are part of The Utah Review coverage. For Part I which is an overview of the state of the film industry in Utah, see here. One of the potential advantages in this year”s slimmer slate for the 2024 edition of the Sundance … Read more

Sundance 2024: Milestone anniversaries for Festival (40th), Utah film and television history (100th), Utah Film Commission (50th)

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Part I is an overview of the Utah film industry in the current moment. Part II (tomorrow) will offer a summary preview of the Sundance 2024 films, which The Utah Review will cover. There is a fortuitous historical confluence to celebrate this year, as the Sundance Film Festival is set to open tomorrow … Read more

Sundance 2024: Marking 100 years of Utah film and television history

NOTE: This feature about 100 years of film and television in Utah is linked to the Part I curtain raiser for the Sundance Film Festival.  When James D’Arc came to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah as a student, he already knew some of Hollywood’s most famous names such as John Ford and John Wayne … Read more

Courage, creative fire, innovation, enterprise: The Utah Review’s Top 10 Moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2023

This year’s selections in The Utah Review of the top ten moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2023, the ninth annual edition, were the easiest to curate in the nine years of publishing this annual list. Likewise, selecting the top moment among the ten was just as easy. In Utah, there are creative producers in … Read more

A 2023 holiday season exclusive for U.S. and Salt Lake City: Pioneer Theatre Company set for production opening of Christmas in Connecticut musical adaptation

The most enduring Hollywood movies about Christmas reinforce the nostalgia about holiday celebrations, even when chaos threatens to upend plans for the perfect gathering. In 1945, as GIs began to return to the States after the long world war, American audiences welcomed the holiday madcap farce of Warner Bros.’ Christmas in Connecticut.  Nearly 80 years … Read more