When Sundance Movie Competition formally packs up and strikes to Colorado after its 2026 competition, Utah’s movie scene received’t be left at nighttime.
In actual fact, it would simply get loads higher! Provo’s FilmQuest style movie competition is entering into the highlight, able to turn into the state’s premier cinematic occasion for followers of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi storytelling.
I’ve been attending FilmQuest because it first launched and it’s my favourite movie competition to attend. Anybody who isn’t going is lacking out on an particular and superior expertise.
Jonathan Martin, FilmQuest founder and competition director tells Selection: “The town of Provo is absolutely going to again us transferring ahead to changing into the premier competition within the state, and presumably the area. We’ve received some mates within the legislature that we’ve cultivated through the years that we’re going to be speaking to and establishing that voice and group right here.”
Based in 2014 by Martin, who can be a filmmaker, FilmQuest was constructed round a easy however passionate concept to rejoice really unbiased style cinema. It’s not about large studio offers or distribution pushes, it’s about discovery and group.
“We’re not establishing offers with distributors, streamers and studios to showcase their movies that they’re already planning to launch anyway,” Martin explains. “We wish to rejoice discoveries and discover the voices of tomorrow.”
That imaginative and prescient has helped FilmQuest carve out a novel identification, one which’s equal components creativity and group. Martin defined:
“We actually are this rock ‘n’ roll-vibe occasion. You’re going to return to the competition and rub shoulders with everyone. No person’s off right into a black limousine within the night time. You’re going to return in, meet everyone that’s there, and probably make a relationship there.
“For instance, Sean Gunn was right here a pair years in the past and he’s simply hanging out with everyone, exchanging cellphone numbers with those who he’s assembly proper there, filmmakers which might be up-and-coming and hungry. We’re all getting alongside and extra relaxed.”
That down-to-earth environment is intentional. Martin says inclusion and authenticity are on the core of FilmQuest’s identification.
“All are welcome and there’s no preconceived notion. I don’t care in case you are white, Black, Latino, Asian, LGBT — we’re all equal collectively on this. That’s what we’re doing right here: That will help you discover these alternatives and likewise develop your community.
“And it’s not that we don’t take ourselves critically, however it doesn’t really feel such as you’ve walked right into a church and it’s all sanctimonious. That is very a lot one thing for folks to really feel welcome for what they created and who they’re.”
That sense of openness fuels the creativity behind the competition’s lineup, which this yr features a killer mixture of movies!
Alongside its wild slate of options, FilmQuest can be identified for championing brief movies and unproduced screenplays. The 2024 grand prize winner for shorts, I’m Not a Robot, went on to win the Oscar this yr.
“A variety of these items are going to be dictated by our personal private style,” Martin says. “I’m not going to say we bat 1000, however I believe we bat .950. I believe we do an excellent job of figuring out what are the easiest of the unbiased style characteristic movies on the market which might be obtainable to us, and the easiest of the style brief movies — as evidenced by the truth that our grand prize brief movie award winner ended up profitable the Oscar final yr. We’ve confirmed that.”
The competition additionally locations an enormous emphasis on group reference to mixers, workshops, and events the place up-and-coming filmmakers can be taught from professionals within the trade like A Quiet Place writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. It’s not nearly screening movies; it’s about constructing a community of inventive film geeks who love style storytelling as a lot because the viewers does.
“There’s one thing for everyone,” Martin says. “It’s a launching pad for essentially the most thrilling and proficient voices in style cinema at present which will or might not have been found.”
With Sundance on its approach out, FilmQuest is poised to take the stage as Utah’s new cinematic crown jewel, one which trades pink carpets for blood, guts, and creativeness. For followers of style movies, it’s the movie fest price trying out.
