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For over 20 years, SLFS has served as Utah’s mission-driven, venue-based film non-profit, serving residents in the Wasatch Front and beyond
We exhibit, create, and preserve the cinematic experience. We promote diversity through film exhibition and creation. We foster film talent and cultivate film appreciation and participation. Our programs and venues ensure that the potent ideas and voices of film are accessible to everyone in our community.
SLFS recognizes and honors the fact that our Broadway, Tower, and Motor Cinema venues are located on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes. The State of Utah is home to eight distinct tribal nations.
57,028 total audience
53 filmmakers and artists attended special events
7,220 patrons attended free of charge and 4,742 attended with reduced admission
2,052 attended educational, Q&A, reception and discussion events
Presented 358 total films and events
277 film titles presented
253 screening programs and 54 special events at Broadway
51 online films
For ALL current SLFS films and events:
SLC's home for independent, international, repertory, and documentary cinema, reopened October 2021, open 365 days in 2022
SLC's beloved 95-year-old theater in the 9th & 9th neighborhood, offering contemporary and historic works of cinema, undergoing renovation
SLFS programs and venues are operated with the purpose of welcoming and providing access to everyone in our community. We exhibit works by and about underrepresented people embracing diversity, equity, inclusivity, and belonging—in terms of age, gender/gender identity, race/ethnicity, national origin, ability, sexual orientation, and other complexities of humanity. Our objective is to create an institution that mirrors and celebrates the robust diversity and breadth of human lives in Utah and the world.
SLFS screens current release films with Open Captioning all day every Wednesday
SLFS provides a variety of assistive audio and visual devices available at every screening, including:
*Personal Audio Headphone Receivers with adjustable volume for all movie sound and dialogue
*Personal Audio Headphone Receivers with Descriptions designed for visually impaired patrons. They have adjustable volume for sound and dialogue, and an additional audio track with narrated descriptions is mixed in with the movie sound
*Personal Audio Receivers – Hearing Aid Option works with both audio receivers above. It is a neck loop accessory for users of T-Coil type hearing aids who prefer not to wear headphones
*Personal Text Display is a device that fits into a cup holder, adjusts to a patron’s sightline, and provides text synchronized to the sound to the film
277 SLFS film titles exhibited in 2022 represented Directors and/or Lead Artists
55% or 153 were women
51% or 141 were People of Color
42% or 116 were International films representing 40 countries
19% or 54 were Black, Native American, Indigenous, African, or Middle Eastern
14% or 40 were LGBTQ+
12% or 34 were Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander
11% or 31 were Latinx, Hispanic, Iberian, Latin American, or South American
SLFS features Black Cinema during February Black History Month and prioritizes Black programming year-round
Black History Month 2022 Film Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism In America was featured by SLFS February 4 – 27, 2022. Interweaving lectures, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, criminal defense/civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.
Black Local Film Premiere His Name Is Green Flake is based on a true story and follows the lives of free and enslaved Black Pioneers. Green Flake, a 19-year-old enslaved member of the early Mormon Church, is assigned to an advance-team tasked with blazing the trail for an epic journey. He and other enslaved pioneers trek over 1,000 miles across the Western frontier. SLFS hosted a reception for over 100 guests of the filmmaker and the Utah Black Chamber. Outreach for the film raised funds for the Black Mormon Pioneers Monument in Salt Lake City.
Of the 277 SLFS titles exhibited in 2022, 42% or 116 were International films, representing 40 countries and featuring 27 languages:
Arabic, Cantonese, Chadian Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dzongkha, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Korean, Macedonian, Norwegian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Ukrainian, Telugu, Yiddish
War and Ukrainian Film Highlight The Earth Is Blue As An Orange is set in Krasnohorivka, a town on the front lines of Eastern Ukraine. When poet/filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk first visits the Trofymchuk-Gladky family home, she is surprised. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, single mother Anna and her four children are managing to keep their home as a safe haven. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, so it feels natural for them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war. The creative process raises the questions of what kind of impact cinema might have during times of disaster and how to picture war through the camera’s lens. For Anna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human. SLFS featured this film in May 2022.
Human Rights and Iranian Film Highlight Hit the Road is an Iranian comedy-drama about a family’s drive to the Turkish border while hiding their true intent from their young and adorable son. SLFS featured this film online from May – November, 2022.
For the past 11 years, SLFS cultural tour programs have been empowering arts engagement for underserved communities in our city.
10 films, including 1 narrative, 3 documentaries, and 6 short films
4 pre-recorded panels and 2 in-person Q&As with 1 Guest Filmmaker
4 additional filmmakers, and 10 community members
Filméxico kicked off in November 2022 with an exciting lineup that featured acclaimed, emerging, indigenous, and local voices in contemporary Mexican cinema. Filméxico presented panel discussions with Mexican filmmakers, Utah community leaders, and cultural bi-national specialists.
Guest Filmmaker Melissa Elizondo Moreno graduated from the National School of Cinematographic Arts at UNAM. Her work is focused on the themes of resilience, childhood, and gender perspective.
The Revolt/La Revuelta was presented for free at the Broadway and online. Film director Lucero González and visual artist Nancy Rivera, curator and Visual Arts Coordinator for Utah Division of Arts & Museums, pre-recorded a discussion. Martha Black-Zapata of KRCL produced radio promotions and also recruited social media support from local LatinX groups, including Mujeres Unidades de Utah. Discussion topics included collective activism and vulnerable self-reflection.
8 films, including 6 documentaries and 2 short films
1 opening night gala with 1 in-person panel featuring 4 local community members
Created in partnership with Utah Clean Energy, SLFS curated a lineup and opening night panel discussion addressing the multifaceted problem that is climate change. The panel celebrated the “Power of Advocacy!” and featured Megan Nelson, The Nature Conservancy; Sarah Wright, Utah Clean Energy; Deven Patten, Utah Recycling Alliance; and Jamaica Trinnaman, Hello Bulk Markets. The panel was followed by a screening of Tomorrow, the story of two French filmmakers not giving in to catastrophism and exploring initiatives to fight the effects of climate change.
12 films, including 2 narratives, 2 documentaries, and 8 short films,
4 pre-recorded panels with filmmakers and local community members
Māsima’s exciting lineup highlighted acclaimed filmmakers and emerging voices from Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Four pre-recorded panels featured Māsima 2022 filmmakers in exciting conversations about mental health, horror, and animation. All panels were moderated by The Island Wave Podcast co-host and producer, Kamaile Tripp-Harris.
SLFS and University of Utah Tanner Humanities Center were thrilled to bring back National Theatre Live in 2022. An established and popular program, NT Live brings the best in British Theatre to the SLFS big screen.
NT Live Highlight Prima Facie In December 2022, the one-woman, emotionally charged production of Prima Facie was preceded by a pre-recorded discussion between star Jodie Comer and sexual assault victim advocates.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute & Marcie’s Movie Club
Established in 2019, Marcie’s Movie Club serves older audiences in collaboration with University of Utah’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Each week participants watch and discuss a new film at Broadway Centre Cinemas. The club format serves an important community need, as seniors are at higher risk of experiencing loneliness and isolation. Movie Club provides an ongoing opportunity for seniors to connect with each other through the wide-ranging films. Members find friends and common interests as they empathize and learn together.
Aging and New Zealand Film Highlight James & Isey was a favorite film of the May 2022 Māsima: Pacific Island Film Tour. Isey and James plan her 100th birthday in New Zealand.
On October 22, 2022 at Broadway, Radio From Hell X96 celebrated its 8,000th episode and featured a screening of Echo People, along with a Q&A with local director Trent Harris. The film features two heroic misfits armed only with fortune cookies and a hubcap who battle inner demons and a giant frog in a spin-off of Harris’ cult classic, Rubin and Ed.
During the summer, cult cinephiles returned to the Broadway in droves for our Summer Showdown contest. Audience members “voted” for each classic film with their attendance (or donations), and each screening came with free swag and merchandise, movie trivia, and a chance at winning some film-themed prizes. As for the Showdown itself, local pride prevailed, and SLC Punk was eventually crowned King of Summer 2022.
A SLC tradition was back! Each weekend, September through October, Tower Of Terror tingled our spines and raised the hair on our necks at the Broadway, delighting our not-so-feint-of-heart patrons.
REVENUES | |
| Concessions | $264,079 |
| Program Services | $650,473 |
| Individual contributions | $190,181 |
| Grants and public funding (15 grants/foundations) | $3,091,965 |
| Sponsorship | $58,369 |
| In Kind | $128,929 |
| Total | $4,383,996 |
EXPENSES | |
| Program Services | $1,739,443 |
| Fund Raising | $538,265 |
| Management and general | $546,109 |
| Total | $2,823,817 |
SLFS is hard at work reimagining the future of independent cinema at both the Broadway and Tower Theatre. In 2023 we will continue to dream big and to listen to the community. We hope you will join us as we reintroduce the Tower and its new role in the life of our city. Stay tuned for more exciting news.
THANK YOU for your continued support and patronage of SLFS
*All patron data is based on the 2022 Avenue ISR National Arthouse Audience Survey
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