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From left, Bekki Brau Ho'okano, Kamiko Adcock, Jackson Dean Ahlander and Jacob Hamblin, of "Till Death Do Us Part," and Aaron Tharp and Andy Matthews, of "The Ghost in the Road," are pictured at the Orem Film Festival Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Vineyard.

Courtesy Orem Film Festival

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Orem Film Festival director Trevor Allen is pictured at the festival Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Vineyard.

Courtesy Orem Film Festival

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Jared Jakins, right, and Jorge Ramirez, middle, of "Rat Rod," are pictured at the Orem Film Festival Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Vineyard.

Courtesy Orem Film Festival

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Allison West, left, and Claire Timothy, of "Reflections," speak at the Orem Film Festival Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Vineyard.

Courtesy Orem Film Festival

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Orem Film Festival attendees watch the films Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Vineyard.

Courtesy Orem Film Festival

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"Ghost in the Road" directors Andy Matthews, left, and Aaron Tharp speak at the Orem Film Festival Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Vineyard.

Courtesy Orem Film Festival

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Orem native Trever Allen had a vision to provide a space where the community could come together and get excited about locally produced indie films that deserved more attention.

So he launched the Orem Film Festival and showed 10 short films on the big screens at the Megaplex Theatres at Geneva in Vineyard, including six created by Utahns. 

Approximately 600 people attended the inaugural film festival Wednesday night. Over three hours, each film was screened and filmmakers took turns participating in Q-and-A sessions with the audiences in different theaters.

“We want to support these local voices and make sure these indie films have a place up on the big screen,” Allen said. “That doesn’t happen a lot of times, as much as it should. So I’m grateful we could do our small part to contribute to these artists and display their work up there, and I was very moved to see how many people from the community showed up.”

Local short films included award winners “Till Death Do Us Part,” a horror movie about an undertaker’s apprentice seeking a wedding ring, written and directed by American Fork’s Jacob Hamblin, and “Braids,” a story of a Native American boy dealing with society pressures at school, directed by Brigham Young University alum Elise M. Beers.

Other local films included “Reflections” by Provo’s Claire Timothy, highlighting an art glass engineer in Salt Lake City, and Squanchy Papi, a documentary on Salt Lake City’s fixed-gear bike community directed by Brinton Douglas of Salt Lake City.

Carly Jakins and Jared Jakins, from Fountain Green, made “Rat Rod,” which spotlighted a mechanic who immigrated to rural Utah, and Provo’s Andy Matthews and Orem’s Aaron Tharp teamed up on a Halloween horror film called “The Ghost in the Road.”

Allen said each movie was a small project carried out by people who are passionate about storytelling, and that they all delivered an impressive product. 

“I think they look so legit and beautiful up there on the big screen,” he said. “These are real movies. They’re working with such constraints that it is just so impressive what they’re able to pull off.”

Those constraints included limited budgets, creative filming locations and even limited access to camera gear. 

Matthews and Tharp had filming equipment rented for a single weekend and shot the majority of “The Ghost in the Road” on a Saturday and Sunday night in November before returning it that Monday.

The movie, which they said was meant to replicate an ’80s horror movie you may find on old VHS, required night shots and an autumn vibe, creating a memorable experience for all involved.

One scene took place in a “random street in Pleasant Grove,” Matthews said, which was chosen because of its canopy of trees and required a child actor to lie in the middle of the road at night in a costume.

They were concerned the boy was going to freeze on the ground, so they came up with an idea.

“We thought, he’s in this ghost sheet costume, what if we just sneak an electric blanket and he can just be plugged in, and he was just happy as a clam,” Tharp said. “He had a great time, got makeup all over his face and got to stay up super late.”

Other movies focused on real life stories with deep personal meanings, leaving an impact on those involved. 

In “Reflections,” Timothy showed how Allison West has connected with herself and her own spirituality through her work creating stained glass art for different churches around Utah.  

“The way (West) spoke of spirituality was so validating for me as someone who has had a hard time with religion,” Timothy said. “Learning about the way she viewed things so fluidly really helped me understand the topic in a way that I didn’t think it would end up being about.” 

Timothy said it was challenging to fit the whole story into just a few minutes, but West thought she did so in an eloquent manner. 

“I find that the power of glass is so amazing in my own life,” West said. “What the glass attracts is the most amazing people in my life, and I get to help them create things. I get to create things. I get to restore things. …  So for Claire to come my way — I just felt it was part of my dream to share this, to keep it going.” 

For the filmmakers to share their hard work in front of hundreds from their own community only added to the experience.

“I’m from Orem. I live in Orem, and so I just go to this theater all the time, and we’re just excited to be here,” Tharp said. “It’s cool. It’s in a real theater.”

“When you’re coming to film festivals and you’re putting your film out there, that’s really about the most exciting thing that you can ask for, is just for as many eyes as possible to see your film,” Matthews added. “So we couldn’t be happier with the turnout, and like Aaron said, we’re just excited that it’s showing on a big screen and in a real movie theater, and you don’t always get that, so that’s exciting.”