‘There’s an opportunity for us:’ Provo’s FilmQuest looks to step up in wake of Sundance’s departure
-
- Filmmakers are photographed during a red carpet event for FilmQuest Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Provo.
-
- Filmmakers are interviewed during a red carpet event for FilmQuest Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Provo.
-
- A filmmaker is photographed during a red carpet event for FilmQuest Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Provo.
-
- An actress is photographed during a red carpet event for FilmQuest Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Provo.
-
- Filmmakers are photographed during a red carpet event for FilmQuest Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Provo.
Undeterred by the rainy fall weather, a slice of Hollywood was in Provo on Thursday for the opening night of the community’s biggest annual film event.
The 13th annual FilmQuest film festival was back in action at the Velour Live Music Gallery on University Avenue, and scores of well-dressed filmmakers and actors stepped across the red carpet to get their photos taken and discuss their films.
What started as a small genre festival at Jordan Commons and moved to Provo in 2017 has gained some notoriety in the filmmaking world.
The last three top prize winners at the festival all went on to win the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar, including, “I’m Not a Robot,” “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva.” Last year, the festival estimated it generated $1 million in economic impact for Provo.
This year’s festival will feature more than 300 genre films across an 11-day period inside the Velour, intended to showcase the best independent films in the world.
FilmQuest is officially the largest film festival in the state with the departure of the Sundance Film Festival. Its exit looms large for the Utah economy and the local film community, but FilmQuest leadership believes it can step in and fill a void.
“What we are trying to do for ourselves is take advantage of the fact that it’s gone,” FilmQuest Director and Co-founder Jonathan Martin said. “That’s a big void to fill, $100 million economic impact that Sundance has. I don’t think the powers that be that made the decisions that ultimately led to Sundance’s decision to leave have actually fathomed that.”
When Sundance announced its departure in 2025, Gov. Spencer Cox said stakeholders had begun working to create a new major festival in the state. But Martin believes now isn’t the time to start from scratch, but rather to invest in what is already here.
“They’re forgetting about the people who are already here that have established a brand,” he said. “You don’t just build that brand overnight, no matter how much money you throw at it.”
It takes 10 years, he said, for a festival to even be considered for Oscar-qualifying status. That’s a distinction FilmQuest is actively working toward. Martin said the Academy invited FilmQuest to apply to become a qualifying festival. If successful, it will be just the second genre festival in the world to get the distinction.
“We’ll see what happens. We’re very open about wanting it,” he said.
In the meantime, FilmQuest believes it has captured a unique identity as a “genre friendly” festival, able to attract some of the top films in the horror, science fiction and thriller categories, among others.
Co-founder and Deputy Director Richard Teasdale said showcasing genre films is “a labor of love” that started with his and Martin’s shared enthusiasm for horror and science fiction.
Martin said they’ve managed to cultivate their passion project into a large event because they show good films.
“Our mandate was: We’re going to build this festival with great programming, the best films that you could find, because that percolates a community and excitement that comes with it,” he said.
It also keeps good filmmakers coming back. Megan Duffy, from Los Angeles, will showcase her short film “Severed.” It’s her sixth year participating in FilmQuest, and she said she keeps coming back because of the culture the festival has curated.
“It feels like a community, and every time I come to the festival, I end up meeting with new friends and new collaborators,” she said.
Actress Katherine LaVictoire, who is in Living with a Visionary, a short-film that is up for an Oscar, said FilmQuest helps bring to life “quirky visions” in unique ways.
“This is the place to come with crazy ideas,” LaVictoire said.
Gavin Hignite, director of “NONOcell,” said the genre-friendly culture at the festival is ahead of the curve, and that he expects all festivals will be more welcoming to these films in the next decade.
Martin hopes the established culture and success can be a launching pad for things to come.
“We’ve definitely been positioning ourselves and wanting to put ourselves at the front of that cart so people recognize not only what we’ve already done, but what’s to come,” he said. “And we want to build this with the community, the city of Provo, Utah County and the state of Utah. It’s all of us coming together and working together. And if we do that, we could have something that was better than Sundance ever was.”
