Filmmaker Spotlights and Final Call For Entries

This is how we can feature you BEFORE the festival.

Author

Warren Workman
October 26, 2025

Oh hello, my brilliant filmmaking friends. The clock is ticking, the spotlights are….spotting(?), and yes… we absolutely want to shine it on you.

Here’s what’s happening this week at the Utah International Film Festival:

Filmmaker Spotlights: Help Us Help You Get Famous-ish

Our social media team loves hyping up filmmakers on Instagram. We’re already browsing FilmFreeway, ready to feature this year’s submissions in our Filmmaker Spotlight. We treat these spotlights like a mini-red carpet moment before the festival even starts, even before our programming team looks at your project!

There’s only one catch…
We can’t feature you if your FilmFreeway page is missing key details like:

• Your personal Instagram handle
• A director bio

Want to stand out? Think personal, not a résumé.
We’re curious about what makes you … you:

• Where do you call home?
• What influences your storytelling?
• What quirky, wonderful, surprising thing makes you different?

For example…

“Jane Doe grew up in NYC and has spent the past year living with a Wiccan community in Iowa. Her films explore what it means to be misunderstood by the world while building home and belonging. Between shoot days, she’s converting a decommissioned transit bus into her dream house on wheels.”

Perfect. Now we know Jane doesn’t just make movies… she’s freakin’ living one.

If you update your page with a bio or social media link that wasn’t there before, please reply to this email so we don’t miss you. Our spotlight crew moves fast, but they’re still only human (Cue Rag’n’Bone Man - Human, If you have’t heard this one it’s a banger).

A quick note:
Spotlights are not an indicator of festival selection.
They’re our way of supporting filmmakers as individuals long before programming decisions are finalized.

Last Call for Submissions

This is the final week to submit your project to UIFF.
After November 2nd, submissions close for this season.

Here’s the Submission link: https://filmfreeway.com/UtahFilmFestival
We are not accepting works-in-progress this year. If your film needs a more editing love, bring it back to us next year.

We can’t wait to meet the people behind the films. Update those bios, drop those IG links, hit submit, and let’s keep the good times rollin’.

Cool? Cool!
Utah International Film Festival Team

P.S. Massive thanks to everyone who updates their page today. You just became our social media coordinators BFF!

Reply

or to participate.