Provo, Utah-based FilmQuest, already one of the buzziest genre film festivals, has the unique opportunity to step up with an even bigger footprint in the state when its industry big brother, Park City-based Sundance, heads to Colorado after its 2026 edition.
“The city of Provo is fully going to back us moving forward to becoming the premier festival in the state, and possibly the region,” FilmQuest founder and festival director Jonathan Martin says. “We’ve got some friends in the legislature that we’ve cultivated over the years that we’re going to be talking to and establishing that voice and community here.”
FilmQuest, specializing in fantasy, horror, sci-fi and beyond, launched in 2014 when Martin, a filmmaker himself, envisioned a festival that felt truly independent.
“We’re not setting up deals with distributors, streamers and studios to showcase their films that they’re already planning to release anyway,” Martin says. “We want to celebrate discoveries and find the voices of tomorrow.”
Additionally, as the team behind FilmQuest began to find the festival’s identity, it hit its stride as a different kind of fest.
“We really are this rock ‘n’ roll-vibe event,” Martin says. “You’re going to come to the festival and rub shoulders with everybody. Nobody’s off into a black limousine in the night. You’re going to come in, meet everybody that’s there, and potentially make a relationship there. For example, Sean Gunn was here a couple years ago and he’s just hanging out with everybody, exchanging phone numbers with people that he’s meeting right there, filmmakers that are up-and-coming and hungry. We’re all getting along and more relaxed.”
Martin says that equity is essential for the festival.
“All are welcome and there is no preconceived notion,” he says. “I don’t care if you are white, Black, Latino, Asian, LGBT — we’re all equal together in this. That’s what we’re doing here: To help you find those opportunities and also expand your network. And it’s not that we don’t take ourselves seriously, but it doesn’t feel like you’ve walked into a church and it’s all sanctimonious. This is very much something for people to feel welcome for what they created and who they are.”
FilmQuest founder and director Jonathan Martin
Josh Tug
This year’s features lineup includes plenty of wild loglines: A metal band battles cannibals (“Jump Scare”), a college kid tries to escape a killer barber (“Bad Haircut”) and a deadly health drink is brewed (“Kombucha”).
Additionally, FilmQuest emphasizes an unproduced screenplay competition and a robust selection of shorts. Its 2024 grand prize winner in shorts was this year’s Oscar-winning “I’m Not a Robot,” which reinforced the programmers’ intuition for quality storytelling.
“A lot of these things are going to be dictated by our own personal taste,” Martin says. “I’m not going to say we bat 1000, but I think we bat .950. I think we do a very good job of identifying what are the very best of the independent genre feature films out there that are available to us, and the very best of the genre short films — as evidenced by the fact that our grand prize short film award winner ended up winning the Oscar last year. We’ve proven that.”
Other activities during the fest encourage community building between filmmakers and fans, with plenty of mixers, industry labs taught by talent like “Quiet Place” writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, parties and special screenings — all of which showcase a different side of Provo than people expect.
“There’s something for everybody,” Martin says. “It’s a launching pad for the most exciting and talented voices in genre cinema today that may or may not have been discovered.”
2025 FilmQuest Poster
Courtesy of FilmQuest
