Whew, what a summer!
If you have been following us you’ll know that these past few months have been busy. We have:
- Hosted outdoor movie events in seven rural communities in southern Utah,
- Offered more than 20 outdoor and drive-in movies in various locations in Salt Lake County,
- Presented free, weekly screenings through our online streaming service,
- Planned and presented Utah’s own LGBTQ+ film festival: Damn These Heels (held for the second time during COVID), and
- Launched a revitalized and reimagined education program that offers both in-person and online learning opportunities for students and educators.
In addition to a busy summer, we also launched new programs to address the challenges presented by COVID-19. Since April 2020, we’ve presented more than 300 online and in-person screenings/events to more than 20,000 people around the state.
With our summer screenings coming to a close and the Salt Lake City Library closed to programming until further notice, we are taking a strategic pause to evaluate our programs with the goal of ensuring that they will meet the future needs of our community.
Though our weekly free film screenings and our “Through The Lens” series will be on a short hiatus, we will continue to offer our reimagined media arts education programs and support films through our fiscal sponsorship program.
So if you don’t see movies on the calendar over the next few months, fear not! We will be back to showing films in 2022.
Stay tuned over the next few months as we share film recommendations, highlights from our archive and rich collection of recorded Q&As, and other film-related content.
As ever, we are grateful for your support that allows us to enrich Utah’s art and cultural offerings. We look forward to sharing our new schedule and gathering around the work we love in the coming months.
HOW TO STAY CONNECTED DURING OUR FILM INTERMISSION
Our Community Spotlight program is like virtual venue rental where community groups can “gather” to watch a film and dive deep into meaningful discussions, with the support of the Utah Film Center’s tech team.
Utah Film Center assists independent filmmakers in gaining access to funds to make independent films and documentaries. Many of these films go on to participate in major film festivals and theatrical releases.
Utah Film Center’s Media Education programs bring arts education into the classroom by introducing teachers and students to the transformational power of film. Our programs demonstrate how media education is beneficial for students, by helping them improve their media literacy skills, increasing their engagement, and building their critical thinking abilities. The free film screenings, workshops, professional development, field trips, and lessons we offer help students achieve these goals while supporting the core curriculum requirements for arts education.)
