One benefit to a reviewer of Gary Hustwit’s innovative documentary Eno’s reported 52 quintillion possible versions is that there’s no possibility of spoilers. Practically, the film’s most significant feature is its constant reconfiguration at the digital hands of generative software Hustwit developed with artist Brendan Dawes, assuring that every showing will be different than the last. While Hustwit told his audience at the film’s premiere that this version had been fully rendered in advance, ideally the work should be assembled as it plays in real time. When you see Eno—and you must see it—you will experience a completely different film than I did, and—this is where one might feel some frustration at the process—you’ll likely see scenes that I didn’t see, just as I’ve seen things you won’t. Zooming in from the UK to participate in the post-film Q&A, Brian Eno suggested that the project operates like human memory, following a winding path of unpredictable associations to create a rich and complex but always incomplete, or unfinished, portrait.
In terms of content, the film is truly one of the most inspiring works on creativity that I’ve seen in some time. It helps, of course, that its subject is a tremendously likeable human being. Eno is pure delight as a guide to himself and his aesthetics, reflecting with great precision on and clear-eyed analysis of his development as a musician, a composer, a producer and a visual artist. Though he’s now in his 70s, Eno’s ultimately positive and relentlessly curious approach to innovation feels as fresh and essential as it would have (to those with ears) in his glam rock period with Roxy Music in the early 1970s. Back then, Eno tells us, his axe was the newly developed synthesizer because the technology interested him and he had no capacity to play any other instrument. That even now the producer of iconic works by David Bowie, The Talking Heads, U2, and many others cannot write with conventional musical notation and has little use for common compositional terms is a testament to the tremendous power and precision of Eno’s creative imagination and his capacity to communicate his original ideas through intuitive and organic approaches to rhythm, melody, sonic mimicry, and metaphor.
One thing Eno is not is sentimental. There’s a touch of comic, cringing regret as he wades through the material archives of past experiments that Hustwit has asked him to revisit. But there’s also evidence of lingering interest and pleasure, as when Eno finds some of his daughter’s drawings in an old notebook (“this was her abstract period”), or, when flipping over a mini-cassette featuring crude vocal experiments that make him laugh, he suddenly recognizes Bono working out the vocal style for 1984’s “Pride (In the Name of Love).” The rawness and emergent brilliance playing through the recorder’s tinny speaker arrest Eno, as if he’s hearing this music for the first time.
As we might expect from a more conventional documentary, this moment transitions into an extended, edited sequence of fascinating and revealing archival studio footage in which a younger Eno encourages and mildly provokes a notably shy Bono into the defiant vocal character that defines the song, the very character for which the U2 front man is best known. When Bono complains, somewhat meekly, later in the sequence, that “Pride” no longer feels “grand” due to a reduction in length, Eno’s simple suggestion to slow it down brings a song that’s become nearly unhearable today because of its ubiquity into a renewed focus for the viewer, and the band’s earnest expressions of pleasure and discovery (of themselves) is startlingly moving. This is not solely the doing of Brian Eno. It’s a vision of the joy of collaboration, risk, and emergence.
Given the power and effectiveness of such typical documentary moves applied to this material, one may well ask if the formal experiment with generative processes is as productive as it might be. Does it make the film great or is its most important contribution to evoke, rather than build on, Eno’s approach to composition? In my version—which, to be clear, will never be seen again—the film closed with a somewhat thin consideration of what Eno’s aesthetics offer art made in response to contemporary environmental collapse. There’s obvious and important potential here that simply isn’t as developed as an earlier sequence on Eno’s concept of surrender, for example. But then, in your version, maybe the environmental point will be adequately developed while surrender may not appear at all. That’d be unfortunate for you. But you win some, you lose some, and maybe the most beautiful aspect of Eno’s life-art project is that failure simply doesn’t exist. “Honor thy error as hidden intention,” reads one of Eno’s famous Oblique Strategies. You just keep asking questions—what is art? what does an artist do? what have we never heard before? where have we never been before?—and the work keeps on going, shifting, growing, not becoming better necessarily, just more and more interesting.
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival officially opens Thursday in Park City and Salt Lake City, and the full lineup includes more than 80 films that will be screening at this year’s festival, including film premieres and film entries competing in a variety of categories.
There is always hype around a handful of Sundance films before most people, including critics and industry insiders, even have a chance to see them, but one of the best parts of the Sundance Film Festival is the films that surprise us.
We spoke to Salt Lake magazine film contributors Michael Mejia and Jaime Winston to get their list of films that they think will make an impact this year, and we spoke with one of the people responsible for selecting Sundance’s film lineup. Heidi Zwicker is a Senior Programmer with Sundance Film Festival and she outlined some of the films that have her excited.
Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun appear in Love Me by Sam Zuchero and Andy Zuchero, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Photo by Justine Yeung.
“It’s maybe no surprise that AI is a trending topic, with documentaries in the U.S. and World competitions (Love Machina and Eternal You, respectively), NEXT (Seeking Mavis Beacon), and an interactive project in New Frontier [Being (the Digital Griot)],” explains Meijia. “Also I’m very interested in Love Me, the Alfred P. Sloane Feature Film Prize winner, a post-apocalyptic love story between two pieces of space detritus.”
Starting off, there was a lot of buzz about Love Me this year, as Sundance had already given the film an award before the Festival began. “Love Me stars Kristen Stewart and Stephen Yeun, who are both amazing actors. And I don’t think I could say better than the logline,” says Zwicker. The film is about “a buoy and a satellite” who meet online and fall in love long after humanity’s extinction.
“It’s really inventive, but it’s hard. It’s a love story that plays out in all these exciting ways, but it’s about human connection and so it’s beautiful and different. That’s something that we really like to see, too, is stuff we haven’t seen before,” says Zwicker
The 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is an annual award given to an artist with “the most outstanding depiction of science and technology in a feature film.”
A still from Presence by Steven Soderbergh, an official selection of the Premieres Program at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
“I am also looking forward to checking out new projects by Sundance legends Steven Soderbergh (Presence, Premieres) and Richard Linklater (God Save Texas, Episodic; Hitman, Spotlight),” says Michael Mejia.
Zwicker is likewise excited that Sundance has artists like Steven Soderbergh bringing their work to the festival. “This is someone who has been so successful for so long, but he continues to take chances. He has a true spirit of innovation and independence in his work and in his new film, Presence…Throughout their careers, there’s always a home for them at Sundance. And I love that about our festival, too.”
Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg appear in A Real Pain by Jesse Eisenberg, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
“We saw a lot of films about family this year, which I think can be such universal stories,” says Zwicker. “I, personally, am a sucker for a tear-jerker. We found some really lovely, resonant stories about family and growing coming of age—universal themes that filmmakers continually find new ways to express.”
“I’m thinking about films like A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg’s film, which is a film about two cousins whose grandmother has recently passed, and they travel to Poland to honor her legacy as a Holocaust survivor, but while also managing their own relationship,” says Zwicker. “It’s funny and it’s emotional, and that’s a film that I found extremely moving.”
Richard Roundtree and June Squibb appear in Thelma by Josh Margolin, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by David Bolen.
“We have a very different kind of film in our Premiere section,” says Zwicker. “I love to see films that are not like anything we’ve seen.” Thelma—a film about a woman who is “duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson” and takes matters into her own hands to get retribution—stars an actress named June Squibb, a long-running character actress, but, says Zwicker, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her highlighted in a lead role. She’s 93 years old. Thelma is a family film, too, but also a thriller and also funny. It’s kind of a film that I think that everybody can enjoy, but it’s definitely not a story I had seen before”
A still from In The Summers by Alessandra Lacorazza, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Family-oriented films are certainly having a moment at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. “I am excited to see In The Summers (U.S. Dramatic Competition), a coming-of-age film about two siblings and their annual visits with their loving, yet volatile, father,” says Winston. “It stars Lío Mehiel and Sasha Calle. I last saw Sasha as Supergirl in The Flash movie. While her Supergirl standalone film seems unlikely, I’m happy to see her career progressing. Last year at Sundance, I saw Lio in Mutt, and their performance completely blew me away.” You can see Jaime Winston’s review of Mutt here.
A still from Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | Photo by Warner Bros / Alamy.
“Speaking of ‘super’ people, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which features unseen footage and personal archives of the legendary actor, has captured my attention,” says Winston.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is the Salt Lake Opening Night Film. The documentary premieres on January 19 at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. The documentary shows never-before-seen home movies and personal archives, which reveal how Christopher Reeve went from an unknown actor to an iconic movie star as the ultimate screen superhero, and how he learned the true meaning of heroism as an activist after suffering a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator to breathe.
“I think biographical docs in the last few years have really been having a moment,” says Zwicker. “And this one is what I think is the best of what a biographical doc can be because it’s made with love and honesty. You really understand what made this man so special,” she says. “And you understand that through the people who loved him telling truthful stories about who he was and his impact on their lives. It is a movie that had me just crying buckets.”
A still from As We Speak by J.M. Harper, an official selection of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Music and musician-centered documentaries
Several other documentaries, falling into a few notable themes and trends, have caught our attention as well.
“I’m particularly excited by the array of music docs,” says Michael Mejia. “From an exploration of the use of rap lyrics as evidence in American courts (As We Speak, U.S. Documentary) to a NEXT doc on the Irish-language rap group Kneecap (Kneecap), looks at DEVO in Premieres (DEVO) and Brian Eno in New Frontiers (Eno), and Johan Grimonprez’s Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, picking through the CIA’s deployment of jazz artists to distract from its undermining of the independence movement in the Congo in 1960.”
“We also have a biographical doc about Luther Vandross, which is a really thoughtful study of him as an and through his art,” says Zwicker aboutLuther: Never Too Much (Premieres). “You kind of learn more about him as a person, which I think is a really smart and caring approach.”
Frida Kahlo appears in FRIDA by Carla Gutiérrez, an official selection of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo, S.C.
LatinX-centered documentaries
“I’m eager to check out the entries from Latin America, including U.S. and World docs on Frida Kahlo (Frida), Argentinian gauchos (Gaucho Gaucho), and social justice in Colombia (Igualada), and features from Brazil (Malu), Peru (Reinas), and Mexico (Sujo),” says Meijia.
“The Japanese film Black Box Diaries (World Cinema Documentary Competition), about a journalist investigating a high-profile offender in her own sexual assault, sounds interesting as well,” says Jaime Winston.
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele appear in Will & Harper by Josh Greenbaum, an official selection of the Premieres Program at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Continuing with the documentaries that have us excited, is a documentary about Will Ferrell and his longtime friendship with a writer who he’d collaborated with many times, who transitioned, called Will & Harper. “It’s about their friendship through Harper’s transition, and it’s funny, too, because it’s Will Ferrell, of course, but super emotional,” says Zwicker.
A still from Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati, an official selection of the World Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
“We have some terrific first features,” says Zwicker of this year’s lineup, which has a showing of films that broach the nuances and complexities of gender, identity and sexuality. “Girls Will Be Girls is an amazing Indian film in our World Competition that deals with coming-of-age female empowerment, female sexuality from a different cultural lens.
“It’s so lovely to see experiences that we know from our own lives told in a different cultural perspective,” says Zwicker. “it’s the kind of thing that makes you excited about world cinema. This sort of shared experience in storytelling. I see a lot of different voices around the world getting their first moment to get this spotlight. And that’s what I feel like our festival is for.”
This year’s Midnight selection, which features horror, thrillers and genre-defying works has a few standouts for us. “Last year, the horror film Talk to Me made me nervous driving home so late following the screening,” says Jaime Winston. “I can foresee a similar experience after watching The Moogai (Midnight), which is about a mother defending her baby from a sinister spirit.” Read the Talk to Me review here.
Zwicker admits she’s particularly adept and giving people Sundance film screening recommendations based on which Sundance films they’ve enjoyed in the past. We decided to put it to the test. One of our favorite Sundance films in recent years was Cha Cha Real Smooth, the 2022 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Competition Audience Award winner. Cha Cha Real Smooth is a sharp, offbeat but heartfelt dramedy about relationships and growing up, centered around a floundering 20-something who works the bar mitzvah party circuit, that made Salt Lake magazine’s list of festival highlights that year as well. What 2024 film would Zwicker recommend based on that?
“Let’s see, something charming…I’m going to say there’s a film in our Premiere section called The American Society of Magical Negroes,” she says. “It is part fantasy. It is part rom.com. It is totally inventive. And it’s this conception of the magical Negro trope that appears in many sorts of old films…and this film totally flips that dated convention on its head. It’s really funny, but it’s also sweet. If you’re a fan of Real Smooth, that would be my recommendation.”
It’s 50 degreesat the end of February and a light dust of snow drifts down from the churning grey-and-white sky. I begin the ascent to Cassidy Arch, clambering up the switch-backed trail out of Capitol Reef’s Grand Wash. I’m rewarded with the grand view of sandstone and snow all to myself.
Snow-filled tracks on the trail are evidence that other hardy souls are somewhere ahead, but for now, it’s just me on a trail of quiet and solitude. The slick rock is appropriately slick under the new snow, making my hike across the red-rock plateau above Cassidy Arch less hike, more scramble, but the slipping and sliding lend a comical exuberance to my exertions, which are blessedly unobserved—like a clown falling in the woods with no one else to see.
This is day four of a seven-day wintertime road trip through Utah’s five national parks and on every excursion, in every park, I am essentially by myself, only occasionally passing others on the trail, mostly foreign travelers who were somehow whispered the secret: Southern Utah’s mild winters make it the perfect time to tour the Mighty Five—Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.
The global popularity of these parks has created a dependable summertime mob. At least once a summer, Arches National Park makes the news as crowds clamoring to get a glimpse of Delicate Arch shut down Utah Highway 191, just outside park gates near Moab. Even on the least busy warm-season days, the lines of cars cruising popular sections of each park fulfill Edward Abbey’s 1960s prescient lines from Desert Solitaire predicting the “serpentine streams of baroque automobiles pouring in and out, all through spring and summer, in numbers that would have seemed fantastic when I worked there…the ‘visitation,’ as they call it, mounts ever upward.”
Is this the great outdoors? Or a parking lot? Plus, it’s hot in all but the highest elevations, with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees for most of the summer season. But in February? The parks are yours. Open roads and open trails, comfortably cool daytime temperatures and blessed quiet offer a rare solitary view of the overly viewed vistas. Of course, there are some hurdles to wintertime adventures, like weather. Yes. I encountered rain and snow in all the parks, but apart from one blizzard in Bryce Canyon (the highest-elevation park at 8,000 to 9,000 feet on the rim), it was manageable with sensible clothing layers and an adventurous heart. Meanwhile, the moody weather’s layers of cloud, snow and sky invited rare reflection. The second obstacle to traveling in Southern Utah is a dearth of lodging and restaurants, a downside to solitude. But amid seasonal closures, I found a pleasant selection of year-round places to stay in each of the communities near the park areas and some surprisingly good eats along the way.
Photo Credit Hans Issacson
Bryce Canyon National Park
Home to some of the most stunning vistas in the national park system, Bryce is known for its abundant hoodoos. Rising out of the canyon floor like stalagmites, some are diminutive while others reach as high as 10-story buildings. The optimistically named Bryce Canyon City borders the park boundary. It is home to Ruby’s Inn, founded by Reuben C. Syrett, an intrepid pioneer who settled in the area in 1916 to ranch. When the park (first a national monument) was founded in the ’20s, Reuben, or Ruby, was poised to capitalize on the influx of visitors that continues to grow each year.
The Big Hike
Fairyland Loop Distance: 8 miles
This hike down into Bryce Canyon offers the park’s most spectacular display of its hoodoos. It’s also a good workout. You’ll hike down and back out of the canyon through the magical Fairyland, a maze-like trail at the base of the towering hoodoos. Tip: Do this loop clockwise, and get the least-charming canyon rim section out of the way first instead of at the end of the long hike.
Off-season Eats
Foster’s Family Steak House
This wooden-walled diner is one of the few year-round dining spots outside of the Ruby’s Inn enclave and it’s worth the short drive. Outside the kale-and-quinoa zone, expect the wilted salad bar (with “both” kinds of dressing, ranch and Thousand Island). But it’s hearty meat-and-potatoes fare, with simply prepared steaks and meatloaf and pies baked each day. 1150 Highway 12, Bryce City, fostersmotel.com, 435-834-5227
Off-season Stay
Ruby’s Inn
Ruby’s Inn is pretty much all you’ve got for lodging—even the park’s rustic lodge is closed. The hotelier has two lodges on either side of the main drag and is home to one of the only liquor stores in the area. The rooms are clean and situated nicely at the edge of the park boundary. It owns much of the land adjacent to the park and offers a slew of wintertime activities on its property. 26 S. Main Street, Bryce Canyon, rubysinn.com, 435-834-5341
Zion National Park
Overcrowding in peak season made Zion National Park the first in-Utah park to move to a mandatory shuttle system. But in February the roads are empty and its two most popular hikes, The Narrows and Angel’s Landing, are blissfully free of the human traffic jams and bottlenecks endemic to the summer season. Zion is Utah’s lowest park in both elevation and latitude, so its weather tends to be fair year-round. You can expect rain but rarely snow. You’ll encounter cool temperatures, especially in sunless canyon bottoms like The Narrows. Springdale, located just below the park entrance, is for the most part open for business in the winter season, but restaurants and stores often limit their hours. The Cable Mountain Lodge has a helpful “what’s open” guide.
Photo Credit Adobe Stock
The Big Hikes
Angel’s Landing — Distance: 5.4 miles
This is a pre-lawyer hiking trail. It’s a butt-kicking climb to the very top of Zion Canyon, famously completed by a “chain route”—where the vertiginously narrow trail offers chain handholds as you crawl up tummy-turning sections with sheer drop-offs. Yes, people have fallen. No, they did not survive. Yet the trail remains open, perhaps because the payoff is so spectacular—a perch on Angel’s Landing with stunning views in every direction and a sense of fear-facing accomplishment. Do not do this hike in less-than clement weather.
The Narrows—Distance: 9.4 miles
The Narrows is a scramble up the Virgin River. You splash over and around river-rock bowling balls as towering rock walls close together as you ascend the canyon. In the summertime, people tackle The Narrows in sandals and shorts, but in February you’ll need some gear. Rent a dry suit from Zion Outfitters (zionoutfitter.com). The thick, rubbery suits keep the water out and you warm and dry inside. And although you’ll look like you belong on a Star Trek landing party, you’ll feel invincible wading through the chest-deep water near the top. The kit also comes with extra-grip water shoes and a giant wooden pole that makes your scrambling easier. The hike terminates at the backcountry boundary (permit required). And although you’re not hiking uphill, all the wading and clambering is tiring, so remember you’ll have to return the way you came. Consider turning back before you’re all gassed out.
Off-season Eats
Whiptail Grill
Whiptail Grill is a cute cantina in a converted gas station, serving creative takes on Mexican cuisine. 445 Zion Park Blvd., Springdale, whiptailgrillzion.com, 435-772-0283
Off-season Stay
Cable Mountain Lodge
Located right at the mouth of Zion Canyon, Cable Mountain Lodge is practically in the park. The lodge has standard hotel rooms as well as family-sized suites with kitchens and plenty of space. Bonus: The hot tub is open year-round. 147 Zion Park Blvd., Springdale, cablemountainlodge.com, 435-772-3366
Get the Gear
While wintertime in Southern Utah is much, much tamer than you imagine weatherwise (you’re not summiting Everest, you’re going on well-traveled hikes in national parks) you’ll still need to deal with cooler and widely fluctuating temperatures as well as intermittent rain and snow. The Boy Scouts have it right: Be prepared.
Hiking boots.
Your light trail hikers won’t cut it. You’ll want a breathable, waterproof boot with a sturdy, super-grippy Vibram sole.
Clawing your way up snowy and, at times, icy trails and across wet slick rock (which unlike dry slick rock is genuinely slick) can be tricky. Some nice sturdy, collapsible poles with a rubber tip will give you an extra place to put weight down while on slippery descents.
Wicking fabrics are a must; they’ll keep the moisture away from your skin as you sweat. After you stop moving you’ll cool down quickly and want to keep yourself as dry as possible.
You’ll need a waterproof (or at least resistant) pack with enough room to stash all your layers as conditions change. Size matters: Make sure you’ve got room for snacks, water, a beanie, gloves, an extra-mid layer and room to stash your outer layer if things heat up. Hiking in cold weather is about staying dry, so don’t be a hero. If you’re sweating a bunch, stop and peel a layer or two.
REI Co-op Trail 25 Pack – Women’s, $79.95, rei.com
Final Note—NO SNOWSHOES.
Too often touristas clomp around on packed-snow trails in snowshoes which are more of a hazard than a benefit. You will only need them if you are venturing well into the backcountry and off, off-trail in very snowy conditions. Basically, if you don’t know how to use snowshoes you probably aren’t going to be in a situation where you’d have to know—make sense?
Sept. 26, 2023 at The Westerner Photos by Miguel Mendoza
More than 650 bartenders from Utah attended the 6th Annual Bartender Recharge. In addition to giving back to bartenders, the event also raised more than $5,500 for the Folds of Honor Scholarship Fund. This popular yearly event is the brainchild of Casey Metzger of Top Shelf and Seth Hill of The Downstairs and is made possible by generous sponsors.
Raina from Black Art Tattoo and Dakotah Harlan at the event’s tattoo experience
No Name Crew enjoying the BBQ fare (left to right) Max Bramson, Logan Pierce, Craig Volk
Annie Duong, Michael Kalvig, Asia Dove, Jedidiah Johnson
Crowd Line Dancing
Seth Hill and Casey Metzger
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Children’s Center Utah Unveils New Facility
Sept. 25, 2023 at Children’s Mental Health Campus, West Valley City Photos by Anthony Oliver, Love Communications
The Children’s Center Utah hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the grand opening of its new children’s mental health campus at 3725 W. 4100 South in West Valley City. This milestone marks the completion of the multi-million dollar project aimed at providing comprehensive mental health support. The new campus showcases the successful collaboration between public and private partners, highlighting the importance of investments in early childhood mental health. Founded in 1962, The Children’s Center Utah provides comprehensive mental health care to enhance the emotional well-being of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families. For more information, visitchildrenscenterutah.org.
First Lady Abby Cox speaking
Abby Cox, Rebecca Dutson, and Gail Miller
Donors and TCCU employees, including First Lady Abby Cox; Rebecca Dutson, president and CEO of TCCU; and Gail Miller of the Larry H Miller and Gail Miller Family
Foundation Rebecca Dutson presenting the donor wall
Cassie Bertot, Family Advisory Board Member, The Children’s Center Utah
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2008 University of Utah Sugar Bowl Team Hall of Fame Event
Sept. 2023 at Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club Photo by Katie Eldridge
In September, The University of Utah’s 2008 undefeated Sugar Bowl team was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. The induction was celebrated with an after-party at Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club, at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City. It had been 15 years since a lot of the teammates had seen each other making for a fun party. Utah Sports Hall of Famers Sealver Siliga, Robert Johnson, Matt Asiata, Sean Smith, Koa Misi, Stevenson Sylvester, John Peel and Derrick Shelby were all in attendance.
Coach Quinton Ganther
Sealver Silig
Aaron Tong
Robert Johnson
Stevenson Sylvester
Jacob Bentrude and Kepa Gaison
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Party for Clean Power
Sept. 28, 2023 at Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, Taylorsville Photos by Kristan Jacobsen
Utah Clean Energy, Utah’s leading climate change advocacy organization, presented Utah’s premier climate solutions event, the annual Party for Clean Power, on Sept. 28, 2023. The event brought together more than 350 local leaders to catalyze new ideas, inspire action and celebrate progress in the fight against climate change. Utah Clean Energy is a public interest organization working to turn the tide on climate change by expanding renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage, and clean vehicles.
Guests at Utah Clean Energy’s Party for Clean Power
Climate Champion Awardee Reverend Dr. Oscar T. Moses, Calvary Baptist Church, with family and friends
Performers from Brolly Arts
Bert Zimmerli, Zimmerli Family Foundation; Erica Marten, Utah Clean Energy; Sarah Wright, Utah Clean Energy CEO; Karey Barker, Cross Creek; John Robertson, Zimmerli Family Foundation
Guests at Utah Clean Energy’s Party for Clean Powerv
Doug Hatch, Sharpe/Marken Party; Trish Hatch, Guardian ad Litem Office; Steve Keyser, Utah Paperbox
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Eat Drink SLC
Sept. 13-14 at Tracy Aviary Photos by Austen Diamond
Eat Drink SLC celebrated Salt Lake’s culinary and libation world for two nights in September. Net proceeds benefited three nonprofits: Tracy Aviary, SB Dance and Women of the World, a community organization that empowers immigrant, asylum-seeking women and their families. Since its inception, Eat Drink SLC has raised more than $100,000 for worthy nonprofits.
Xio Bao’s Romina Rasmussen and Lisa McCune
Hill’s Kitchen’s Aly Wallman, Lucy Clark, Alvaro Cisneros, Chris Straughan
Lorenza Wines’ Michele Ouellet, Lesley and Wade Rockwood
Franklin Avenue’s Josh Handley, Erik Anthony, Matt Crandall, John Parrott, Milo Vigil
Yoko Taco’s Jaime Ordaz, Kiersten Duffin, Chef Devon Auchterlonie
French Libation’s Kelsey Laderriere
SB Dance performer Jorji Diaz Fadel
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Park City’s Promontory Club Celebrates Opening of the Hills
Sept. 2, 2023 at Promontory Club, Park City
Park City’s Promontory Club celebrated the debut of its third golf course, The Hills, on Sept. 2, 2023. Approximately 500 members and influencers turned out for the festivities, which included golf cart tours of the course, a putting competition and culinary delights from Sage, the modern Italian dining concept that will be located in the new clubhouse dedicated to the course.
The Hills, conceived by golf course architect Forrest Richardson and design partner Jeff Danner, is an 18-hole course with all par-3 holes. Along with the new course, clubhouse and Sage, there will be four indoor golf simulator bays with state-of-the-art Trackman technology. Cascade Green, Promontory’s 18-hole putting course, was inspired by the famous Himalayas at St. Andrew. It is complemented by The GAP, a full practice facility and on-range Golf Academy, complete with multiple hitting bays and a state-of-the-art TaylorMade Fitting Center.
DJ Dolph
Scott Law, Cynthia Brown, Walter Bennett and Eveleen Babich
We welcome your photos of recent social events around Utah for consideration. Please send high resolution photos (.jpg format) to magazine@saltlakemagazine.comwith the subject line “Social” and a package of images and event information in a file transfer service. Submissions must accompanied by names and a description of the event (who, what, when, where, why).
Mix in a little ancient literature with a high lonesome harmony and you have the perfect elixir to wash away those winter blues. Local folk favorites, The Backyard Revival, presents O Sister Where Art Thou, a live musical parody of the Coen Brothers hit movie O Brother Where Art Thou (which is loosely based on Homer’s The Odyssey.) The show will feature all your favorite songs from the beloved cinema classic.
This unique Salt Lake City concert will take you on a musical madcap romp through the Depression Era South as Jack and Betty O’Malley, a pair of troublesome siblings, played by Brian Bingham and Sarah Little Drum, run from the law (much like the Soggy Bottom Boys in the film).
The film’s soundtrack, produced by T Bone Burnett, won multiple Grammy Awards including Album of the Year in 2002. The chart-topping record featured a star-studded cast of country, folk, blues, gospel and bluegrass performers like Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Ralph Stanley, and Dan Tyminski, to name a few.
The Backyard Revival’s reimagined show features an ensemble of local talent including musicians from The Swinging Lights, Lonesome Folk, Lucy Ave, Tycoon Machete, The Magpipes and solo artists Dylan Roe, Mavi Blue, Rocky Velvet, and Zaza Historia VanDyke.
After performing a musical tribute to the folk band Civil Wars last year, Sarah Little Drum and Brian Bingham of Backyard Revival (they often play as a duo but also expand to a trio or quartet) were inspired to develop more light-hearted parodies in their own musical style. They loved the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou and the project took flight. Little Drum and Bingham co-wrote the revised script, arranged the music, and recruited like-minded musicians to help them bring the soundtrack back to life in a slightly different way.
This stage play/musical tribute hybrid will be a one-of-kind live music experience. Audiences across the Wasatch Front will have the opportunity to see the show: on Thursday, January 25, 2024 at The Start Up in Provo; Friday, January 26, 2024 at The Copper Nickel in Ogden; and a final performance in SLC at The State Room on Saturday, January 27, 2024.
This year marksthe 40th festival for the Sundance Film Festival. In some ways, it’s hard to believe an event that has such an influence on film and art worldwide could possibly be that old. In other ways, it feels as if the festival has always been a permanent part of Park City and Utah. This 40th year marks Eugene Hernandez’s second as Festival Director, but, for people close to the event, it might feel as if Hernandez has always been a permanent fixture of the festival as well.
Eugene Hernandez
Sundance film festival director. Photo courtesy of Sundance
Hernandez started coming to Sundance 30 years ago, as a journalist in the mid-1990s, to build Indiewire. For Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO, bringing in Hernandez is a “full circle” moment. Vicente was a film producer and met Hernandez during those early years. “Many times we would meet at Sundance,” she says, illustrating one of the festival’s primary functions. “Sundance is really a place about discovery. It’s this gathering place where you meet collaborators that you’re going to be working with.”
“The two of us are part of this broader independent film community because of the role that Sundance played in our own lives,” says Hernandez. Within that community he includes industry folks and audiences, particularly locals, who have shown “tremendous enthusiasm for coming back together,” he says. They saw this last year as well, when nearly 87,000 people physically attended the festival. Participants redeemed 138,000 tickets and contributed $118.3 million to Utah’s gross domestic product, according to an economic impact study on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. “There’s something unique and special about every year coming back to that community,” says Hernandez. And the community is growing. With the accessibility of digital, festival films screenings received more than 285,000 views online.
The Sundance audience attends a festival event at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. To Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO, the Sundance audience makes it the best festival to make a first impression, as it is both an industry festival and a public-facing one. “There’s a chemistry that happens when you have people who are not in the industry watching films,” says Vicente, which sparks robust Q&A’s with filmmakers. Photo credit Henny Garfunkel
The Next Sundance
So what will Sundance look like with a longtime participant and professional, like Hernandez, as director? His focus is on connection, specifically connecting to art and to others through art. Forty years in, Hernandez attributes the festival’s longstanding cultural relevance to its support of independent artists. “Sundance plays such a vital part in starting the year with a new class of filmmakers, and that first impression is so essential,” says Hernandez. So the question becomes, “How do we assure that each film and filmmaker and the teams that come to Utah as part of that experience have the best shot at introducing themselves and their work to our various audiences?”
Joana Vicente
Sundance Institute CEO. Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute.
To that end, the 2024 Sundance Film Festival will carry forward some of the aspects of the 2023 festival—such as the hybrid model, with films available to screen in-person and online—while trying to infuse the event with more meaning and connection by emphasizing the in-person experience. To make those first impressions as special as possible, film premieres will only be screened in-person and competition films will be screened online only during the second half of the festival.
With this new model, the hope, in part, is to make the in-person portion of the festival—well—festive. Like with all anniversaries, expect celebration. Reflecting on 40 years, Sundance plans to honor the past by celebrating the future. “Celebrating the future is about continuing to be curious and to curate and bring the most exciting voices, stories and people who are the future of independent storytelling,” says Hernandez. The festival is also celebrating its legacy of discovering new talent. This year’s Opening Night Gala will celebrate a director who got his start at Sundance with the film Memento, Christopher Nolan.
“It really is unique among other festivals to have that focus on spotlighting and showcasing what’s new while also celebrating that alongside some of the familiar faces,” says Hernandez. “That’s really the work…to continue bringing people together.”
Sundance 2024 At A Glance
Festival dates: Jan. 18-28, 2024. Opening Night Gala is Jan. 18 at the DeJoria Center. In-person screenings begin around noon on Jan. 18. Online screenings begin Jan. 25.
The lineup: 90+ feature films, 60+ shorts.
Park City venues: Eccles Theater, Egyptian Theatre, Holiday Village Cinemas, Library Center Theatre, The Ray Theatre, Redstone Cinemas and Prospector Square Theatre.
SLC venues: Megaplex Theatres at The Gateway, the Salt Lake Film Society’s Broadway Centre Cinemas and the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.
“No Welfare for Sundance + Kimball,” read the anonymously authored sticky note. The note contained one of many such nuanced takes from a late fall event designed to gather public input regarding Park City’s possible future arts and culture district in Bonanza Park. Setting aside the ludicrous, anonymous nature of the feedback—which channels some of the most vocal characters of an internet comment section—the event’s very existence reflected a contemplative mood surrounding what was once a broadly supported development concept. Local sentiment is seemingly less enamored with the world of art and entertainment. Is the feeling mutual?
If a faction of fed-up residents were contemplating ousting Sundance, the fabulously impactful annual film festival, some rumors suggest they may not get the chance. Word on the street is Sundance has been considering an exit from Park City, possibly leading to a situation of “You can’t break up with me because I’m breaking up with you!”
Reporting from Deadline in July 2023 indicated festival organizers were fielding RFPs from numerous cities including Santa Fe, New Mexico and Bentonville, Arkansas. Sundance reps replied at the time that the requests for proposals were related only to Sundance Labs, the year-round programs Sundance Institute runs to develop upcoming filmmakers. One of the labs is held at Utah’s Sundance Resort, which is undergoing extensive construction, necessitating the need for an alternative location.
The enticing morsel of Hollywood gossip got a boost a few months later when Sundance Film Festival leadership requested an extension on the deadline to renew its agreement with Park City to hold the festival in town beyond 2026, when the current agreement expires. The requested seven-month extension (from March 1 to Oct. 1, 2024) indicated Sundance is conducting a broad review of the festival’s future. In a letter to Mayor Nana Worel, Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente pointed to new executive leadership, several years of declining revenue and “many uncertainties” that make a “new vision” for the partnership essential.
Is Sundance really asking to see other people? Are they merely trying to find out if Park City is serious about their relationship? Is this strained metaphor an inaccurate lens through which to view a standard negotiating tactic relating to an agreement that automatically renews in 2027 without a two-year written notice by either party? It’s hard to say.
Despite unconfirmed rumors of Sundance leaving Utah, the festival will be back at venues in Park City and Salt Lake City, like the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. Photo credit Sundance Film Festival
Those sticky notes referenced in the introduction weren’t about the Sundance Film Festival itself but the Sundance Institute’s presence as an anchor tenant in the planned arts and culture district. In 2017 when the district was conceived, three parties—City Hall officials, Sundance Institute representatives and Kimball Art Center leadership—envisioned a vibrantly reimagined section of town that would lessen the community’s reliance on outdoor tourism while serving as a long-term hub of artistic cultivation.
The intervening years, in no small part due to the pandemic, upended best laid plans. Locals have bristled as the city’s estimated portion of the bill, which has exceeded $90 million. Vicente’s letter made no mention of Sundance Institute moving to Summit County. The Kimball Art Center continues to operate in its “temporary” digs on Kearns Blvd. with no end in sight. Meanwhile, the lots where businesses in Prospector were razed to make way for the arts and culture district remain vacant. Relationships are hard. Rumors are swirling.
“Good riddance,” some residents would no doubt say, at least, anonymously, on sticky notes. If it ever comes time to cut ties with the festival and organization that has become synonymous with Park City, the community will have to reckon with whether the grass is really greener. Sometimes you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.
It’ll Be ‘Festival As Usual’ This Year
Park City has hosted the Sundance Film Festival since 1981, when it was still known as the U.S. Film Festival. In its 40th festival year, Sundance in Park City and Salt Lake City has hosted, thousands of films, millions of attendees and countless gossiped-about celebrity sightings. (I’ve talked to both Danny Glover and pre-ayahuasca-enthused Aaron Rodgers.) If you’re reading this between the dates of Jan. 19-29, 2024, get out to Main Street and revel in the madness. Who knows how many years it’ll still be a possibility.
Introducing the latest in the Bartolo’s line (and the restaurant’s new flagship location), Bartolo’s Station Park opened its doors on Tuesday, January 9, boasting a full-day’s menu of fresh Italian fare for Davis County diners to enjoy.
Owners Alex and Rhea Bartolo also have locations of their restaurants in Park City and Sugar House, and are looking forward to their new space. As the brand’s flagship, Bartolo’s in Station Park will be home to their executive chef, Alexa Fleming, as well as become the only location with its own wood-fired pizza oven.
When introduced by the Davis County Commerce board, Alex and Rhea’s cuisine was described as “Italian-inspired food by an inspired Brazilian,” honoring Alex’s beloved family roots. As a descendant of immigrants from Italy to South America, Bartolo is sure to infuse his family’s passion into every dish possible. The restaurant’s signature dish, the rigatoni bolognese, was one passed to Alex by his father, who flew in from Brazil for the location’s ribbon cutting, and could be spotted around the event filming every moment and beaming with pride.
Take a sneak peek at a few of the dishes that passion can be tasted in:
Ricotta toast with pickled cherries and balsamic glaze, for a creamy, crispy, tart bite fit for any time of day.
Spinach and artichoke puffs: a bitesize take on a classic appetizer.
A refreshing beet and tomato salad, accented with fresh blackberries, burrata, and a pesto glaze.
The warm, rich and hearty signature rigatoni bolognese, alongside the table’s fresh focaccia.
Other dishes range from savory Italian-inspired brunch favorites to dinner classics, from handmade pasta to chicken parmigiana. Browse the full menu here.
Ah yes, Dry January is upon us once again. For many, abstaining from alcohol after the holiday season encourages a renewed sense of stability. But for others, the thought of turning down an enticing cocktail in favor of a dry version sounds plain boring. Luckily, the world of mocktails has far surpassed boring Diet Cokes and iced tea. Eateries and cocktail bars all over the city offer non-alcoholic concoctions that continue the ritual of pairing good food with enjoyable beverages. Take Ogden’s WB’s Eatery for example, where owners Amy and Viviane Wanderley-Britt find great joy in offering memorable experiences for drinkers and non-drinkers alike.
Together, the couple have curated a delicious list of low-proof and zero-proof cocktails that use unique ingredients unknown to many Utahns. Seedlip, a non-alcoholic distilled water, adds nuance to any dry cocktail. Their three unique flavors can be combined with a variety of syrups and citrus juices. I personally reach for the Spice 94 when I’m craving a mock hot toddy. Other non-alcoholic spirit brands include Monday and Ritual, both are showcased respectively in WB’s menu. Unlike Seedlip, which is in a category of their own making, Monday and Ritual fashion their products after flavor profiles found in whiskey, gin, rum and tequila. “Using Monday and Ritual allows us to make dry classic cocktails with authentic taste,” says Viviane. Non-alcoholic spirits are ideal for those covert non-drinkers who still want to experience the depth of an Old Fashioned, or if you just need to take a breather after making the most of happy hour.
Cranberry Moscow Mule; Photo courtesy WB’s Eatery
Beyond an annual participation in Dry January, mocktails have been growing in popularity for years, particularly in Salt Lake. Amy and Viviane believe this is due to the inclusivity that dry cocktails bring to the dining experience. “Offering non-alcoholic drinks as an alternative is similar to offering gluten-free and vegan items,” Amy says. “It creates a space to socialize and hangout without being called out on your choice to drink or not drink.” After all, there are many reasons one might choose not to drink. Maybe you are an athlete in training or a woman who is pregnant. You might be taking medications that shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol, or you simply want to be able to drive home without violating Utah’s severe BAC law. Whatever the reason, being presented with a dry cocktail that doesn’t skimp on flavor shows non-drinkers they aren’t an afterthought and that the bar industry still holds a place for them. In a sense, bars that offer dry cocktails become what they were always meant to be: A gathering place for all.
Visit WB’s Eatery at The Monarch (455 25th St., Ogden). You can also order non-alcoholic cocktail kits and other bar goodies on their site.
