The Orem Film Festival (OFF) brought the community together for its first annual showing of indie films at the Megaplex theater in Vineyard on Sept. 24.
Ten films were featured at the festival from up-and-coming filmmakers. Six of the films were made by Utah residents.
Trevor Allen, a local filmmaker from Orem, began thinking about the project a few months ago. After encouragement from family and friends, that dream became a reality.
Edward Pollei, a high school friend of Allen's and the creative producer of OFF, spoke about how it all began.
"We were all sitting around a table," Pollei said. "And Trevor's girlfriend, Macy, just kind of blurted it out. She’s like, ‘You should do a festival.’"
Allen, Pollei and others participated in creating their first short film together at Orem High School in 2020, entitled "Fried Egg," about a high schooler and a gang of evil bakers. They submitted the film to several festivals and eventually decided to create one of their own.
Filmmakers expressed their gratitude and excitement for being selected to participate. Over 185 submissions were considered before selecting the ten finalists.
Mya Iannuzzi, a filmmaker from New Jersey, came to Utah just for the showing of her first-ever short film, "Bug Hotel," which combines stop-motion, 2D animation and puppets.
"When I made the film, I wasn't ready for people to watch it," Iannuzzi said. "It's really cool because it shows that you don't need a big budget. You can literally just use an Amazon box and make whatever you're envisioning in your head."
Before the showing began, filmmakers, actors, and directors were given a brief speech by Allen, the festival organizer, and Munn Powell, the cinematographer of Napoleon Dynamite.
The film festival included a variety of genres, ranging from horror to stop-motion to documentaries.
Notable standouts included "Double or Nothing," a stop-motion film about a Japanese mobster and the pitfalls of greed; "Braids," made by BYU alums and based on the true story of a Native American child forced to conform to white society; and "Till Death Do Us Part," a black-and-white horror film about a gravedigger's apprentice desperate to marry the woman he loves.
"I am thrilled to see that the Orem community gets to enjoy something fun like this tonight, because we need it actually more than ever," Kristi Dial, a sponsor of OFF, said.
In light of recent political events, many moviegoers emphasized the importance of the arts and finding something beautiful in a community recently rocked by violence.
"This has been the best thing in my life for the last several months. Just kind of applying myself and helping out everywhere I can," Pollei said. "I'd call it a passion project."
For many, films aren’t just about telling a compelling story, but bringing a community together to celebrate their vibrant culture and community, now stronger than ever.