Programs at SLFS

PROGRAMS AT SALT LAKE FILM SOCIETY

SLFS has been operating the Tower since 2001, and has a founding mission to preserve cinematic experience. SLFS programs will all touch the Tower in some manner, some will take place at the Tower instead of the Broadway, some will be shared programs through branding, marketing, and engagement. SLFS sees both venues as fluid and does not always lock a program to one location. Each venue has a different age demographic, the Tower has a younger and college-aged demographic, so appropriate programs leaning towards our archives, surrounding technology, or focused on education occur at the Tower.

365-Day Regular Season Programming

231 film titles screened in 2018, including 106 international films from 27 different countries and 36 documentary films.

SLFS year-round programming is:

EXCLUSIVE
74% of films shown (171 of 231) were exhibited only by SLFS in Utah.
AWARD-WINNING
71% of films exhibited were rated 70 or higher on Metacritic, and 56% won or were nominated for major awards.
INTERNATIONAL
46% of films exhibited represented 27 countries on six continents.
DIVERSE
60 films exhibited were directed by women, 12 by people of color, and 23 were LGBTQ+ themed.
ACCESSIBLE
In addition to weekly open captioned film presentations, we offer a variety of closed captioning and audio narration devices so our patrons with hearing or vision impairments can access most first-run films.

EXHIBIT

250+ films presented annually in over 8,000 screenings.

The current SLFS programs are as follows:

FIRST RUN INDEPENDENT FILM

Curated from the pipeline of festivals, independent production and distribution, and from studio films. This project anchors with four core values in curation: festival and awards history, critical merit, community demand, and artistic merit. Covering high-technology film releases and classic print releases in all ratios except 70MM.

CULTURAL FILM FESTIVALS

Producing 4 annual film festivals for cultural access, this project intersects deeply with collaboration in the communities we serve. Partners and collaborators are: Slamdance, Mexican Consulate, Czech Consulate, Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resource (PIK2AR), filmmakers in each community. Over 40 individuals collaborate with us on committees to produce the festivals. SLFS festivals are: Filmexico, Masima: Pacific Island Film Festival, Czech That Film, and Unstoppable: Differently abled Film Festival.

FILM Q&A’S AND VISITING ARTISTS

Throughout the year, SLFS welcomes film artists for Q&A’s and discussions. These events are opportunity-based and depend on timing, film, filmmaker fees & availability. They occur throughout the year with an average of 4-8 filmmakers annually.

MONTHLY REPERTORY COLLECTIONS

Taking advantage of excellence in cinema throughout the decades, 8 months, every weekend, SLFS presents two themed repertory titles. These curated works and screenings highlight diverse topics and artists. Past repertory collections have included Redford Remembered, Black History in Cinema, Women Directors, and Music May. This program highlights diversity, work from auteurs, and is frequently 4K reissue releases or prints. SLFS has utilized guest-curators for some specialty months.

SUMMER SHOWDOWN

18 weeks of repertory cult-film late-night titles “pitted” against one another for audience discovery and exploration of weird and culturally defining films in cinema history. This project includes unique artist displays weekly, trivia each event, plus swag and merchandising. Includes visiting filmmakers and talkbacks each year.

REGULAR REPERTORY COLLECTION

Cinematic releases of classic cinema 52 weeks a year. These films, sometimes 35mm, often new 4K issue or restored prints, entice a film history approach to cinema. Examples include; French new wave, international films, golden-age Hollywood reissues, and print exclusives or archival restorations.

TOWER OF TERROR

7 weeks of repertory horror films in September/October, including the 35+year run of Rocky Horror Picture Show with emcee & live shadow cast. This project also includes weekly artists displays, trivia, swag, and merchandise at screenings. Includes 1 live-cinema classic horror film event with musicians and occasionally filmmaker talkbacks.

Founders Lounge

Monthly exclusive access for SLFS members to see a film, and connect with community.

Lifelong Learning Film Club

Oscher Lifelong Learning has partnered with SLFS to give access to over 150 participants to film talkbacks and screenings that take place every other Tuesday throughout the year.

Film Festivals

SLFS collaborates with 48 Hr. Film Festival, Sundance and Slamdance for festival screenings and events.

One Shot Events

SLFS curates one-shot screenings for special events and special releases, including an annual holiday screening with emcee and prop-kits for Sound of Music, and marathon-style programs like Godzilla-thon.

CREATE

MAST

MAST has a program mission to turn artists into artist-entrepreneurs.

Pillars of the project include; mentorship, short film production, animation focus, and filmmaker training labs. Currently SLFS has 14 alumni filmmakers and two filmmaker fellowships.

The program’s short film production Ninety-Five Senses was Oscar nominated for Animated Short Film in 2024. Current 2026 Slamdance Film Festival documentary competition film, Snowland is an alumni project.

NINETY-FIVE SENSES WILL PREMIERE AT HOLLY SHORTS!

MAST’S ANIMATED FILM NINETY-FIVE SENSES TO PREMIERE AT HOLLYSHORTS FILM FESTIVAL IN LA’S CHINESE THEATER

NINETY-FIVE SENSES

Ninety-five Senses tells the story of a man facing his own mortality while reflecting on the grave mistakes of his youth. This is juxtaposed against the beauty of life and how we perceive it. “It may be that in the next life, we’ll have ninety-five senses,” he muses. The film comprises five scenes, with connective vignettes, animated in six distinctive styles.

The animators were all winners of the inaugural MAST Springboard “Voices Seen” animation contest. This diverse, international group include Gabriella Badillo, Daniel Bruson, Michael Grover, Dominica Harrison, Dallin Penman, Jared Matthews, and KC Tobey, with their teams consisting of Adriana Arvizu, Tamara Cruz, Melissa Lopez, Cristina Lugo, Ruben Morales, Enrique Sañudo, and Scott McHenry.

Film Fostering and Education

Our passion project, this initiative cultivates cinephiles and tomorrow’s filmmakers. It educates artists and filmmakers so that they can contribute to Utah’s creative economy.

MEDIA ACCELERATOR STUDIO (MAST)

By offering contests, labs, mentorship, networking, and production assistance, MAST supports local filmmakers while building Utah into a “content creation” hub. The 2019 program has awarded $20,000 to contest winners and $100,000 in fellowship funds. MAST is a forward-thinking, content development program that harnesses the power of tech-enabled and animation storytelling. Current fellows are working on a range of topics, including displaced workers, traditional stories of Mexico, and restoring sight to the blind.

SCHOOL GROUP TOURS

An educational experience that teaches students about the history of cinema through a behind-the-scenes look at a theater.

PRESERVE

· SLFS purchased the 1928 historic Tower Theatre in January 2023 to preserve it for future generations and has a 50 year lease at the Broadway Centre Cinemas location.

· SLFS has the largest in-state public library for VHS, DVD, and blu-ray films. Shuttered since 2020 with the closing of the Tower, the collection is housed in temperature-controlled storage waiting for the Tower to reopen. Prior to shuttering, the collection was available to students and educators as well as general public. The education and public-access program for the archive will continue in the Tower’s new micro-cinemas, rentals, preservation of VHS titles that never converted to a new technology format, acquisitions of new titles, and to-be-determined educational talkbacks. The intention will be to allow student and educational access to the micro cinemas for the collection. SLFS will be pursuing a library license to facilitate the public use of the collection as well as possibly having an archival staff member.

· SLFS Archives: In addition to the public library of titles, these collections include a massive motion picture poster collection, historic press-kits for films, and historic projector collection with silent film projectors and modern projectors.

TESTIMONIALS & COLLABORATING PARTNERS AT SLFS

Collaborating Partners at SLFS

Consulate of Mexico en Utah
Honorary Consulate of Czechia
Honorary Consulate of Hungary
Spy Hop
Oscher Lifelong Learning, University of Utah
University of Utah Film & Media Arts Department
University of Utah Department of Latin American Studies
University of Utah School of Dance
BYU Animation
Westminster University
Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources
Pacific Island Film Series
Jewish Community Center
Utah Film Commission
Sundance
Slamdance
48 Hr. Film Festival
The Blocks & Downtown Alliance
Artes de Mexico
IMCINE
Guadalupe School
Neighborhood House
YWCA
Arthouse Convergence
Cinema United