The SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem opened its doors Feb. 23-28 for the 25th annual Zions Indie Film Fest, playing 160 shows ranging from full-length feature films to student documentaries and short films.
This year, a group of Brigham Young University journalism students entered their documentary “By Study and By Faith: The Legacy of Karl G. Maeser” into the festival.
The group of students spent around 20 days overseas in the United Kingdom and Germany researching and filming for the story.
They conducted more than 50 interviews and came home with more than 20 hours of footage.
The project, which started as an assignment, grew into something well-loved and cherished by the students.
“We all kind of grew enamored with his story,” Dylan Eubank said, referring to Karl G. Maeser, founding principal of BYU.
Eubank was among the group of students who went to the U.K., and now works as a reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune.
The students recounted the tireless hours of effort put into capturing Maeser’s story, culminating in a 26-minute documentary.
The late nights and long travel days made the film festival experience even more worthwhile.
Elsa Bray, current editor-in-chief of the Daily Universe, was tasked with combining and editing all the video footage for the final product.
“When you’re editing, you get really deep into it. You see all the mistakes, all the flaws, and it’s hard to feel good about what you make, even though it’s a big accomplishment,” Bray said. “So being here today, kind of separated from the time we made it and then watching it again was like wow, we just did that.”
The sentiment was echoed by the other group members, all acknowledging how gratifying it was to see their semester’s work on the big screen.
Zions Indie Film Fest takes hundreds of submissions each year from March to December.
Screeners comb through the submissions to check that the criteria for the festival are met, alongside festival co-directors and owners Michelle and Marshall Moore.
Every film receives a score (even those not shown during the festival), and the week ends with an awards ceremony show.
Michelle and Marshall Moore took over what was originally called the LDS Film Festival in 2021, rebranding it to Zions Indie Film Fest a year later to increase inclusivity and open submissions to a wider audience.
Michelle Moore referenced Zion as a gathering place, which was the original purpose of the film festival — to gather the community together to connect and celebrate each other’s accomplishments and hard work in the film industry.
“That’s one of the things that we always want to have people feel good about, is being able to attend, being seen, being heard (and) being inspired,” Michelle Moore said.
The BYU students were definitely inspired by their project and its impact at the festival.
“We really tried to help people understand who he was and also the impact of his legacy, and it was really rewarding to see people connect with that,” Amy Ortiz, a member of the group, said.
Anyone interested in watching the documentary can find it on YouTube.