News

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: One Taxi Ride excels in demonstrating power of observational cinema for finding paths to deal with taboo, misunderstood subject of sexual violence

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In his director’s statement, Singaporean filmmaker Mak Chun Kit notes that discussing the sexual assault of men is a taboo subject virtually everywhere in the world and even the concept of men being sexual violence victims outside a prison setting is often looked upon as a myth.   In One Taxi Ride, he presents the … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: Outstanding documentary Dog Valley tracks horrendous Utah hate crime, emotionally difficult search for grace of justice, judgment

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Just as Thanksgiving heralded the holiday season in 1988, news spread through the underground networks of Salt Lake City’s gay community about some of the horrendous details of the murder of Gordon Ray Church, 28, a gay college student from what is now Southern Utah University. Church’s killers were tried and convicted, with Michael Archuleta … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: The deep spirituality of queer musicians is explored exquisitely in Portuguese biopic Variações, documentary Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story

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The stories of two introverted queer musicians who express their deep spirituality through their work are told separately in an exquisite pair of films as part of this year’s slate of the Utah Film Center’s 17th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival. They are Variações, a Portuguese biopic written and directed by João Maia, and Keyboard … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: Two Chilean queer dramas – The Prince, Ema – are riveting with strong acting, production quality

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The South American continent consistently has been the source of riveting queer drama cinema and two Chilean films in this year’s slate of the Utah Film Center’s 17th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival are worthwhile offerings. They include El Principe (The Prince), an impressive directorial feature-length debut by Sebastián Muñoz, and Ema, directed by Pablo … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: Outstanding documentaries Transkids from Israel, Queer Japan offer cosmopolitan comparisons to the American LGBTQ+ experience

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Two of the dozen documentaries being screened at the Utah Film Center’s 17th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival offer fascinating cosmopolitan and cultural comparisons to the American LGBTQ+ experience. Both are outstanding: Transkids from Israel by director Hilla Medalia and Queer Japan, directed by Graham Kolbeins. Transkids The experiences of four Israeli transgender teens going … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: Queen of Lapa is radiant, regal documentary about life of Luana Muniz, sex worker activism

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There was regal radiance in the life and work of Brazilian activist Luana Muniz and the Queen of Lapa documentary, directed by Theodore Collatos and Carolina Monnerat, is a resplendent example of cinema verité that truly invites the viewers to inhabit the safe haven that Muniz created for sex workers including transvestites, transgender individuals and … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: World premiere Same-Sex Attracted documentary highlights LGBTQ+ students at BYU, questions of faith, coping with honor code

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Utah was abuzz when Brigham Young University – often called The Lord’s University for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – announced on Feb. 19 that the clause prohibiting “all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings” would be removed from the school’s honor code. Two weeks later, BYU students … Read more

Utah Film Center Damn These Heels 2020: 17th annual queer film festival may be virtual but slate packed with 23 international films, 4 shorts programs, special events including drive-in experience

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review is providing daily coverage of the Utah Film Center’s 17th annual Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival. Follow daily for feature reviews of the 2020 slate during the festival. One of Utah Film Center’s signature centerpieces is moving to a virtual platform this year with its well-established brand of exceptional … Read more

Fight for public lands: Public Trust documentary to be screened by Utah Film Center, featuring director David Byars in talkback with KUER-FM RadioWest’s Doug Fabrizio

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The absorbing, intricately structured documentary Public Trust opens with a majestic, joyous montage of America’s public lands, accompanied by stirring orchestral music and narrated by journalist Hal Herring. However, the film quickly segues into the public land debates, which are anything but majestic or joyous. These lands, Herring says, are as quintessential to the American … Read more

Utah Film Center sets livestream event featuring BOSS: The Black Experience in Business documentary; panel with Utah Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage

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A significant epiphany in the exceptional documentary BOSS: The Black Experience in Business is how director Stanley Nelson chronicles everything that Black entrepreneurship has come up against through more than three centuries of history, yet still achieving many of American business’ greatest innovations. Absorbing, lucid and never overwhelming, this exquisitely synthesized case of history, which … Read more