Utah Film Center

Sundance 2025: SALLY is splendid portrait about the public, private sides of the life of first American woman to go into space

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A splendid portrait of the first American woman and the youngest American astronaut to travel into space, SALLY, which premiered at Sundance, excels at weaving the public and private dimensions of Sally Ride’s life together into an engrossing narrative. Directed by Cristina Costantini and representing her third documentary to receive its premiere at Sundance in … Read more

Sundance 2025: FOLKTALES’ poetic and musical cinematic portrait of Nordic folk school in the Arctic has charmed audiences

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Scandinavian Arctic culture receives some of the most memorable poetic and musical cinematic treatment to be found in this year’s Sundance slate, with the premiere of FOLKTALES, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. It is not surprising that this documentary has become quite the darling at Sundance. The film knits together stunning imagery of … Read more

Sundance 2025: Move Ya Body: The Birth of House is fabulous testament to underground queer dance club music culture

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Among its fabulous strengths, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House, directed by Elegance Bratton and produced by Chester Algernal Gordon, presents a compelling portrait of the wistful utopian history tracking the transition in Chicago from a disco culture to the thriving house music scene that queer musicians, DJs, and producers of color propelled into … Read more

Sundance 2025: Previewing documentaries, narratives, short film programs on The Utah Review’s coverage slate

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Part II summarizes the films and programs from Sundance 2025 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. Among the Sundance feature-length films with a significant Utah connection is Omaha, a drama filmed in Utah … Read more

Sundance 2025: As 41st annual event begins, a look at the current state of the Utah film industry, its growing national and international reputation

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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 2025 films, which The Utah Review will cover. For Part II, see here. This year, as Utah has fully begun its second century in the film industry, Sundance … Read more

Porcelain War, Sundance 2024 documentary prize winner, Academy Award shortlisted film, set to begin screening run at Salt Lake Film Society’s Broadway Centre cinemas on Jan. 3

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This review and interview feature of Porcelain War, the winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, was first published last year at The Utah Review. An outstanding and innovative take on war documentary filmmaking, Porcelain War, which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film … Read more

Emotional and spiritual intelligence: The Utah Review’s Top Ten Moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2024

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But I grew up in a landscape large enough to hold what I felt when the world of people pushed me away. There, where badgers roamed, where herons speared small fish in shallow pools, I found my place. I took my sketch pad and tackle box to the banks of that small creek and washed … Read more

Utah Film Center set to open 21st Utah Queer Film Festival with new name, impressively diverse film slate, local performers, Matthew Shepard memorial concert highlighting four world premieres by Utah-based composers

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This three-article package highlights the Utah Film Center’s Utah Queer Film Festival, which marks its 21st year. The second feature is a feature about the Life After Laramie concert of world premieres and the third feature is a detailed rundown of the 2024 slate of feature and short films. Entering its third decade, … Read more

Utah Queer Film Festival 2024: Four world premieres by Utah-based composers set for Life After Laramie: A Matthew Shepard Memorial Concert

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A film festival is more than a festival, for there are many community members who see it as a place they can find as home, Russell Roots, director of the Utah Queer Film Festival (UQFF) says. During the 21st Utah Queer Film Festival, which will run Oct. 25-27 at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts … Read more

A detailed rundown of the slate of films for the 2024 Utah Queer Film Festival of the Utah Film Center

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The Utah Review has screened many of the films on this year’s slate for the Utah Film Center’s Utah Queer Film Festival. The following is a detailed run down of the entire slate of feature-length and short films. FEATURE FILMS Documentaries  The ABCs of Book Banning 2023/ USA/ Documentary (Sheila Nevins) While this MTV Documentary … Read more