"I feel this whole festival is inviting people into our living room to enjoy independent film with us," Katharine Wang told the Park Record this week. Wang is executive director of Park City Film. The living room has an actual size. Films at the inaugural Park City Film Festival, Oct. 23 to 25, screen in the Jim Santy Auditorium at the Park City Library, 1255 Park Ave. The library's booking portal lists that room at 400 people. All four panels are at Distrikt F, 1205 Iron Horse Drive in Prospector Square. Wang called it a 75-seat space.
The math changes how to plan the weekend. Each film program gets a room more than five times the size of the panel room. The panels run 90 minutes each, and the festival built them with the filmmakers. They are the smallest, slowest, most deliberate part of the program, and they hold the fewest people.
A festival with two very different rooms
The Santy is familiar to anyone who has seen a Park City Film screening at the library. Distrikt F is newer and less obvious. The Park Record reported its opening in October 2025 as a photo studio and event space. The co-owners are Vanessa Di Palma Wright of Farasha and Jacki Zehner, founder of SheMoney. On Farasha's site, the space is listed at more than 1,000 square feet with room for up to 80 guests. Wang's figure for festival seating is 75.
Wang said plainly that the panels are where the festival is trying hardest. "There will be more films than panels, but the panels will be 90 minutes long, and they will all be opportunities for conversation," she said. The topics were worked out with the filmmakers rather than handed to them. Wang described that as "outside the norm for most film festivals," since filmmakers usually get invited to a panel and told what it will cover. Coffee, tea and snacks are included in each panel ticket.
The weekend, in order
Each panel is paired with a film, so the schedule reads best as one sequence. Every film screens at the Santy and every panel is at Distrikt F.
Friday, Oct. 23
- 7 p.m.: The Life We Leave, JJ Gerber's documentary and the opening-night film.
Saturday, Oct. 24
- 11 a.m.: Zejtune
- Noon, panel: "Death, Grieving and How We Care for One Another," led by Gerber and the team behind The Life We Leave
- 2 p.m.: Teeth to the Wind and The Boys and the Bees, screened together as one program
- 3 p.m., panel: "Finding Your Story," with filmmakers Amy Jenkins, Matty Wishnow and Will Ropp, moderated by Meredith Lavitt
- 5 p.m.: Adam's Apple
- 8 p.m.: Brian
Sunday, Oct. 25
- 10 a.m.: Next Life
- 11 a.m., panel: "The Importance of Criticism to Art," with Wishnow, University of Utah film and media arts professor Tim Palmer, and artist, arts writer and curator Kasey Lindley
- 1 p.m.: The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony
- 3 p.m.: Poster signing at Gallery MAR
- 4 p.m.: Frank & Louis
- 4 p.m., panel: "Holding Space for Trans Stories," with Adam's Apple director Amy Jenkins, Summit Pride Foundation board member Kris Campbell, and Parkite Cami Richardson
- 7 p.m.: The Last Critic, Wishnow's closing-night documentary
Laid out this way, the schedule forces a few choices. On Saturday the noon panel starts while Zejtune is still running, and the 3 p.m. panel starts an hour after the 2 p.m. program begins. On Sunday, Frank & Louis and the trans stories panel both start at 4 p.m. Going to a panel usually means giving up part of a screening, or all of one.
The pairings explain why Wang made that trade. Each panel takes its subject from a film. The Life We Leave leads into a discussion of death care. Wang noted that legislation is pending in Utah to legalize terramation, the technical term for human composting, and the session includes a breakout where attendees pick a thread to follow: grief, ritual, death care or composting. The Last Critic is about Robert Christgau, a pioneer of music criticism who wrote for the Village Voice. Its panel grew out of what Wang sees as critics disappearing from newspapers, a trend she said Kimball Art Center executive director Aldy Milliken also sees in the visual arts. Adam's Apple is a 20-year documentary about Jenkins' son's transition. Jenkins, a former Parkite, asked for a panel to go with it, and Wang said the session was timed so young people could attend.
Why the panels are across town
The festival could have put everything at the library. Wang explained why it didn't: "We intentionally wanted to be in another part of town because, as locals know, that area has a lot of great restaurants and is underutilized by people who are guests to our community."
Moving between the two buildings is part of the plan. Park City Film is working with Summit Bike Share to offer free two-hour bike rentals. Riders pick up an electric bike outside the Santy and ride to Distrikt F, or the other way around. Wang put the walk between the venues at 15 minutes.
The schedule's gaps line up with the Prospector Square businesses Wang was pointing to. Here is what is near Distrikt F, arranged by when the panels happen.
- Before the Sunday 11 a.m. panel: Urban Sailor Coffee, 1105 Iron Horse Drive, roasts on site in the storefront that used to be Ritual Chocolate Café. Salt Box Eatery and Catering, 1782 Prospector Avenue, serves breakfast, lunch and coffee.
- Between Saturday's noon and 3 p.m. panels: Windy Ridge Café, 1250 Iron Horse Drive, has a full-service bar. Fairweather Café is still operating at 1270 Iron Horse Drive. Good Earth Markets took over the Fairweather Natural Foods site there in 2023. Windy Ridge Bakery, 1755 Bonanza Drive, sells prepared soups, salads and entrees along with baked goods.
- After a late panel, before a 7 or 8 p.m. film: At 1890 Bonanza Drive, Sammy's Bistro has a full bar and El Chubasco serves Mexican food. Freshies Lobster Co. is at 1915 Prospector Avenue. Farther along, on Sidewinder Drive, are Fuego Bistro and Pizzeria at 2001 and Grub Steak Restaurant at 2093, which serves dinner nightly.
For Colony owners who mostly eat out on Main Street or in Kimball Junction, this is a different part of town to get to know. Our fall calendar for Colony residents covers the other weekends before the snow, and our notes on Park City's Michelin moment cover what has changed at the dining rooms in town.
The deadline is October 10
Today is Oct. 4, and the first deadline is six days away. Single film and panel tickets cost $20, and the festival says the price goes up on Oct. 10. It hasn't published the new price.
The ticketing rules favor booking early:
- Reserve everything online in advance. That includes pass holders, who have to reserve a seat at each screening and panel separately.
- Arrive 20 minutes early. The festival says a guaranteed seat depends on it, and entry isn't guaranteed once a room is full.
- Choose between a pass and single tickets. There are three passes: the Weekend Pass, Cinephile Tier I and Cinephile Tier II. Each gets you one ticket to every available film program, plus admission for one to pass-holder events and parties. Pass prices aren't shown on the public page.
- Buy single tickets through the film guide. Open the Eventive schedule, pick a film or panel, and click "Order Tickets."
Wang also offered help with the cost. "If we could do this for free, we would, but sadly we can't," she said. Anyone who wants to attend a panel but can't afford it can email her at [email protected].
What this weekend is, and what it isn't
Park City Film has been the town's year-round independent film presenter since 1995. Wang describes this first edition as a boutique festival of films picked by hand from the current festival circuit, and the organization has said it isn't meant to replace Sundance. The supporters listed by the Park Record show how local the effort is: the Park City Chamber of Commerce, Summit County RAP Tax, Summit County Restaurant Tax, the Utah Film Commission, Park City Community Foundation and Park City Lodging.
Sundance itself runs Jan. 21 to 31, 2027, in Boulder, Colorado. Its old opening weekend in Park City now belongs to a different kind of event. Shaun White's The Snow League will hold a competition at Park City Mountain on Jan. 22 to 24, 2027. White acknowledged that the league has "big shoes to fill with the Sundance time slot." Independent film is staying in town at a smaller scale. The City Council approved raising Park City Film's cap from 130 to 200 screenings a year. For the panels at the end of this month, that scale means about 75 chairs on Iron Horse Drive, at $20 each until Oct. 10.
If you're planning to spend a festival weekend in town, The Colony Sales Team knows the drive from White Pine Canyon to Prospector Square well and is glad to help you plan around the schedule. We can also arrange a private tour of The Colony on a day the theaters are dark.
