{"id":2304,"date":"2011-05-04T20:40:03","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T20:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=2304"},"modified":"2025-11-10T10:59:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:59:20","slug":"park-city-film-music-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/park-city-film-music-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Park City Film Music Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>by Edward Reichel<\/p>\n

Everyone loves movies. And that fascination for the cinema is reflected in the number of festivals and award shows worldwide. Every year we pay particular attention to who wins best actor or actress, best director and best movie, whether it\u2019s at the Academy Awards, Cannes or Sundance, but we hardly notice who gets recognized for the musical score. But what would a film be without music? Music can add a tremendous amount to the impact a movie has on its viewers. With very few exceptions, perhaps most notably Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s 1944 \u201cLifeboat\u201d \u2013 which is powerful in part for its lack of a score \u2013 music can really enhance the viewers\u2019 experience and become an aural symbol for a particular movie. Bernard Herrmann\u2019s shrieking violins will forever remind you of the shower scene in Hitchcock\u2019s 1960 film \u201cPsycho,\u201d just as much as John Williams\u2019 pulsating rhythm in Steven Spielberg\u2019s 1975 film \u201cJaws\u201d will always conjure up visions of a great white. But of course the music used in films doesn\u2019t have to have sinister associations to stand out. Dario Marianelli\u2019s score to 2005\u2019s \u201cPride and Prejudice,\u201d directed by Joe Wright, beautifully evokes the atmosphere and character of the early 1800s with some disarmingly simple yet striking tunes.<\/p>\n

With the added dimension that music obviously can bring to a movie, it\u2019s surprising that not more attention has been given to it. That also surprised Leslie Harlow when she started looking into it. An avid moviegoer and cineaste, Harlow is also a violist who subs for the Utah Symphony, a studio musician and the founder and director of several highly acclaimed chamber music festivals that run throughout the year and are anchored by the Park City International Music Festival. To say that Harlow lives and breathes music and films would be an understatement. So it\u2019s only natural that someone like her would surely also be interested in exploring the music side of movies. And that\u2019s exactly what she did.<\/p>\n

Eight years ago Harlow started the\u00a0Park City Film Music Festival<\/a>, which this year has screenings at three Park City venues: the Egyptian Theatre, Prospector Theatre and the Santy Auditorium. \u201cWe were the first festival of this kind in the United States and we are still the main one that we know of,\u201d says Harlow. A quick Google search backs up her assertion and shows that while there are quite a few combined film and music festivals around the country and in Europe, there is only one other film music festival, the Soundtrack International Film and Music Festival in Cardiff, Wales, that comes closest to Harlow\u2019s goals. \u201cWhat we do is focus on the impact music has on films, and we also focus on documentaries about music,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As an active performer, Harlow understands the importance of music. \u201cIt can reach audiences on a more subliminal level, and it enhances your perception,\u201d she says. Music adds another layer to your enjoyment of a film. \u201cIt brings in something else other than just images and dialogue. It helps you understand attitudes.\u201d The films that Harlow screens at the festival must fall into one of five categories: 1) narrative feature film (at least one hour playing time); 2) documentary (any length); 3) music documentary (any length); 4) short film (animated or live action, less than one hour playing time); 5) art film (experimental). All of the films that are screened are judged and receive awards for best in each category. There is also an audience award.<\/p>\n

Harlow has specific criteria for selecting films to be screened. \u201cWe don\u2019t choose films solely because they have elaborate scores,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat we want to do is reward the composers for their work.\u201d The movies that make it into the festival aren\u2019t required to have complex or intricate orchestrations. And whether they\u2019ve been recorded by a large studio orchestra or just by a small band, all films are judged equally. \u201cWhat we look at is how the music works with the film,\u201d Harlow says.<\/p>\n

Because she is a musician, Harlow has a special affinity for music documentaries. \u201cThere is such an amazing variety about these films,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had all different kinds of submissions, from films about music in Africa to the development of musical instruments. We like this broad approach. We look at these films from how interesting they are and from an educational experience, as well as from an entertainment factor. We just don\u2019t want to turn any of them down.\u201d When Harlow has had to decline a submission in the past it was because the screening schedule was full and there was no room to add more movies. \u201cWe hate doing that because it\u2019s hard to turn down a film on a subject we care a lot about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the Park City Film Music Festival accepts both big budget films and indies, there needs to be certain criteria in judging the musical scores that level the playing field. And Harlow has found a simple solution to that. She first plays and watches the movie closely, then she plays it again while she goes about doing something else. \u201cIf the score is so compelling that it has the emotional pull to draw me in, that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking for. And we want to reward the composer for that ability. And listening to it as background music is really an effective way to gauge the score\u2019s impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Harlow insists this is an objective way to judge the music and one which also takes into account the process of providing a film with a score. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge world,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are a lot of aspects in putting music to a film.\u201d For the big studio films, composers are under an immense amount of pressure to meet nearly impossible deadlines. \u201cThey\u2019re writing and recording almost simultaneously,\u201d Harlow says. There isn\u2019t much time to do retakes, and oftentimes the takes that are going to be used have to be chosen immediately, frequently during the film-editing process. \u201cSome composers find it hard to work under that kind of pressure,\u201d Harlow says. \u201cOur festival isn\u2019t about composers working under pressure. We\u2019re interested in the creative side. We focus on people who can compose for films. We have a lot of respect for that skill and we enjoy what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

At previous festivals Harlow has screened upwards of 200 films and it looks as if there will be that many at this year\u2019s event. \u201cWe\u2019re still getting films in, even though our deadline for submitting is over, and right now we have about four times the number we can show,\u201d she says. \u201cAmong the ones we have there are a lot of very clever films that I think people will enjoy seeing. And we have a lot of local entries. We like to promote Utah films because there are plenty of excellent filmmakers here.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>The Park City Film Music Festival<\/a>\u00a0runs May 20-30. Each film will run more than once, with short films being shown in groups. Show times will be staggered so there will be enough time to go from one venue to another. Tickets for individual screenings are $5 for Summit County residents and $10 for everyone else. A day pass is $30 and allows the holder unlimited screenings for the day. Tickets are available at the door. For more information and a complete listing of films and times log on to\u00a0www.parkcityfilmmusicfestival.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Edward Reichel Everyone loves movies. And that fascination for the cinema is reflected in the number of festivals and award shows worldwide. Every year we pay particular attention to who wins best actor or actress, best director and best movie, whether it\u2019s at the Academy Awards, Cannes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,12,58],"tags":[97,98],"class_list":["post-2304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-15-bytes","category-film","category-music","tag-film-music","tag-park-city-film-music-festival"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/61s.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 01:43:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2304"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98339,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions\/98339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}