Park City Film Festival adds four panel discussions to inaugural lineup

Filmmakers and local experts will explore grief, storytelling, criticism and trans stories during the October festival.

PARK CITY, Utah — The inaugural Park City Film Festival is expanding beyond the screen with four panel discussions focused on grief, storytelling, criticism and transgender representation.

The festival announced the panel lineup Sept. 25, adding a series of conversations with filmmakers, artists and Utah-based experts to its program of 10 independent films.

“Indie films shift our gaze and provide opportunities to see the world through another person’s perspective,” Park City Film Executive Director Katharine Wang said in a statement. “Our film lineup was carefully and intentionally selected to tap into a range of emotions and inspire fresh ideas.”

The discussions begin Saturday, Oct. 24, with “Death, Grieving and How We Care for One Another” at noon at Distrikt F, 1205 Iron Horse Drive. Director JJ Gerber and members of the team behind the festival’s opening-night documentary, “The Life We Leave,” will lead a conversation about grief, death and care.

Gerber, an Emmy Award-winning producer who grew up in Park City, makes his directorial debut with the documentary, which explores human composting and the ways people confront death and loss.

A second Saturday panel, “Finding Your Story,” begins at 3 p.m. and features filmmakers Amy Jenkins, Matty Wishnow and Will Ropp discussing how filmmakers discover stories, commit years to projects and eventually bring that work before an audience. Meredith Lavitt, a filmmaker, producer and former associate director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, will moderate.

On Sunday, Oct. 25, the festival will host “The Importance of Criticism to Art” at 11 a.m. Wishnow, director of “The Last Critic,” will be joined by University of Utah film and media arts professor Tim Palmer and artist, arts writer, and curator Kasey Lindley for a discussion about how art is evaluated and the role critics continue to play.

The final panel, “Holding Space for Trans Stories,” begins at 4 p.m. Sunday and will feature Jenkins, director of “Adam’s Apple,” and Summit Pride Foundation board member Kris Campbell.

All four discussions will be held at Distrikt F. Tickets are $20, with limited seating available through the Park City Film Festival website.

Park City Film, founded in 1995, is Summit County’s nonprofit art house cinema and uses independent film as a vehicle for community conversation and cultural engagement.