Award-winning Church & State documentary on same-sex marriage comes to SLC in limited engagement

Every documentary filmmaker inevitably struggles with the question: Do we have a story here? Five years ago, when Holly Tuckett and Kendall Wilcox assembled a creative team that included other Utah filmmakers to document Utah’s same-sex marriage case, there were many uncertainties. The prospect of three couples, the small firm of Magleby and Greenwood and … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Norway’s Ready To Assemble, Utah’s Dead Air, Vietnam’s Nín thở take top Fear No Film jury honors

Fifteen awards were announced today in the 16th annual Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival, including a Grand Jury Prize, Utah Short Film of The Year, Fear No Filmmaker Award, three honorable mentions and the best short film in each of the seven ‘band aids’ categories around which the film festival was … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Utah independent filmmakers at Fear No Film include Arthur Veenema, Christopher Lee

Of the 11 short films from Utah that are part of the 54 in this year’s Fear No Film international program of the Utah Arts Festival, three come from independent filmmakers, another sign of a strengthening film industry in the state. Tomorrow’s Shores, directed by Arthur Veenema, is one of the six short films in … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Fear No Film presents 48 films in 7 categories on Band Aids theme, 2 Kids’ screenings

For the 16th annual Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival, curator Topher Horman has crafted seven sequences of presentations in the most intriguing interpretations of the various ways in which societal band aids are removed and the underlying concerns and scars are exposed. Each program is described below. Screenings last about an … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Utah Short Film of The Year competition presents six entries in unique genre treatments

The Utah Short Film of The Year competition, part of Fear No Film, has become one of the most popular events at the https://uaf.org/film. This year’s slate of six short films includes a recommended film from The University of Utah’s film studies school, one of the four Spy Hop Productions’ PitchNic films from last fall, … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: 16th Fear No Film slate builds on theme of ripping off societal band aids, treating and healing underlying wounds

In 2018, it seems insistently exasperating and dismaying thinking that some of the most urgent issues of our communities and societies always will be intractable. Managing outrage is tricky even when one realizes the moment calls for elucidation and an epiphany that leads to meaningful awareness, reconciliation and resolution. And, we are still learning how … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Grand preview of 42nd annual festival’s pop-up city of art, culture

In the 44 hours over the four days in which the 42nd Utah Arts Festival (June 21-24) will be open to the public, so many activities and performances will be available that only the savviest planner attending every minute of that time will be able, at best, to sample a respectable share of what each … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: City Library, Festival match up as perfect partners

Recently, the administration and staff of the Salt Lake City Public Library met to clarify its strategic roadmap as part of its long-range efforts to continue developing the civic cultural campus that includes the City Library in the heart of downtown. As Peter Bromberg, library executive director, explains, it’s continuing the efforts started 20 years … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Making friends, finding fresh twists in every festival venue

Before gates open on June 21 for the 42nd Utah Arts Festival, Karen Major, who worked as a paralegal for many years, already will have created a calendar of activities, performances, films and literary events that she and her husband, Steve Sayer, who retired after working as an executive with the Electrolux group, will hang … Read more

Utah Film Center to close out May schedule with documentaries on an enfant terrible in the art world, global philanthropic community, police violence

The Utah Film Center will close its May schedule of free, public screenings with a trio of documentaries that explore variously the ideas of compassion in philanthropic communities, one of the world’s most controversial artists and an outstanding cinéma vérité piece about police violence and activism in Milwaukee. Summer in the Forest, May 22, 7 … Read more