(upbeat music) - The Utah Queer Film Festival returns with a bold new name and a powerful theme, "Fearless Queerness."

Russell Roots, director of film exhibition at the Utah Film Center, joins us to share what audiences can expect.

Hey, Russell, thanks for being here.

Boy, have you got a lot going on for this one.

- We sure do, we sure do.

- Oh, yeah.

I mean, you've got, what, six feature films and 40 short films, am I right?

- Yes, we have multiple short collections this year, including local filmmakers, and it's just a really broad selection of programming covering lots of intersectionality and cultural points.

- All right, and I know that you probably cover a lot of different topics, so can you just kind of tell us what some of the films explore?

- Oh, yes, we've got films that explore the black perspective in our BIPOC area with Black, Bold, & Brilliant.

That film's called "Assembly."

We have films that feature voices from young trans youth, and that film's called "Just Kids" on Saturday morning, and then we just have all of our collections, short film collections.

We've got spooky ones, we've got avant-garde ones.

It's really nice.

- All right, and now, two of the feature films you're bringing, "Sally!"

with an exclamation mark, - Yes.

- and that's about a teacher?

- It is, it's about a teacher from the San Francisco area named Sally Gearhart, who was known for being a local lesbian activist, as well as the running mate with Harvey Milk.

- Okay, and then "Dorothy?"

- Yes, Dorothy.

The infamous Dorothy Gale from "The Wizard of Oz," and about all of the things that she has done in that literary career, in addition to being a gay icon, just through the performance of Judy Garland.

- Yeah, all right, I know, big popular things, and then "Clips and Sips," you're doing this year?

- Yes, yes, on Thursday the 23rd, the new Utah Film Center building, we're doing "Clips and Sips" with a little preview, where you get the ability to really learn about why we chose the films and what to expect at the festival.

- All right, great.

Well, sounds wonderful, and thank you so much for all you're doing, for being here.

- Happy to be here.

- And if you'd like to know more about that upcoming festival, of Utah Film Center's Utah Queer Films Festival, it is, it's October 24th to 26th at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts.

Just go to utahqff.org, utahqff.org.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact."

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Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

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