Red Rock Film Festival Gets Real
With over 100 films as part of its 16th Annual Festival, Southern Utah’s Red Rock Film Festival not only had a section in Cedar City in October; it has extended its Festival to St. George to show all the accepted films. The stories appear to ring up reality only an international festival can, with a dash of fantasy.
The first section the talk was about documentaries “Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West” sponsored by Best Friends Animal Society which uncovered the truth in hopes to protect wild horses, “Sound of the Surf” chronicled the indigenous pop music of Surf Music, and “Lovely Jackson” was a journey of survival of America’s longest wrongfully held exonerated prisoner.
The St. George section explores even more untold stories from a deep look inside a musician or artist to how at one time rowing became the most popular spectator sport in America, to the true story of the brutality of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan as told by Special Operations soldier and not the media, to one of the worst disasters at sea and caught on cell phones before 304 passengers died. The Red Rock Film Festival wants to make it apparent; these are not stories we hear every day.
Festival director Matt Marxteyn said, “Utah audiences may be confused as to what a film festival is. Maybe because they will have to stop talking about themselves as they see the world through independent directors’ eyes, you get to meet filmmakers from around the world, attend their red-carpet premieres and learn something new. Not everything is about Botox, ice cream, and soda shops – some people want to explore the grey area before Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s algorithm propel the same topics to the top.”
This year’s theme is “explore the grey” and the Festival said it hopes to spark dialogue face to face even in simple animated shorts that open the St. George section with themes of saving the rainforest, astronauts leaving family behind, and a modern take on Greek warriors in the city of Troy. Comedy films are still abundant leaning towards satire, such as Nash Edgerton’s “Shark” the last of a trilogy that shows the result of playing pranks on spouses or a the dark comedy “Suicide Club” where a woman who lost her daughter to suicide forces a young woman from group therapy to talk about it.
A variety of films in several genres will be shown with Q&As January 12-14 from 5-11 pm at the Megaplex Theaters – Pineview Stadium at 2376 East Red Cliffs Drive in St. George. Festival admission ranges from $25 1-Day Pass to $70 for a 15-Ticket package and are available at https://redrockfilmfestival.eventive.org/passes/buy or at the door.
