It's that time of the year again, when the MARS film club and Red Rock Film Festival do their summer membership drive in order to see how many films its sports and film fans can take for its 2018 season. On Saturday, the organization will present the Winter in July event in Cedar City, complete with a ski feature film, adventure short, door prizes, an auction and offerings on its Local Season Pass and Ski Pass.
Films include the feature documentary “Dog Days of Winter” and the adventure short “Surf the Line.” The former features just about everyone in free-style skiing, from Wayne Wong to Suzy Chaffee, and includes one of the last interviews of freestyle pioneer Stein Ericksen. “Surf the Line” features the Flying Franchise, who zipline across the Vercors mountain range and then use their BASE-jumping skills to dismount with impressive grace, style and in costume.
"Surf The Line," a short about the Flying Franchise, who zipline across a mountain range and then BASE jump, will be seen at Winter in July at SUMA on July 28, 2018. (Photo: Red Rock Film Festival)
A Red Rock Film Festival season pass costs $250 and includes more than 50 shows — several with a Q&A with the director — as well as parties and receptions. The organization gives locals an incentive to purchase they passes early: Residents in Iron and Washington counties can have access to 50 shows for just $100 or access to shows playing on either the first or second weekend for $50. The festival is held in Cedar City in November. Advance tickets will be sold online in addition to Saturday's event.
Festival director Matt Marxteyn said in a statement, “We do this because we want to see how many shows film festival attendees will support. The more passes we sell in July, the more shows we will provide in November. Memberships help the shows and events we do year round, and season passes help the Festival in November.”
Door prizes at Winter in July are provided by businesses such as Georg’s Ski Shop from Brian Head and include special tickets from M.A.R.S. to events such as the 1950s drive-in movie in August and the 12th annual Red Rock Film Festival in November. The festival organization will offer something new at the Winter in July auction: Genre Passes for each genre such as action/adventure, sci-fi/fantasy, documentary and animation.
The winning bidder for each Genre Pass will receive a special prize. The top three Genre Passes will be sold this fall before the festival, which will seek out more new films and seminars in those special genres. Ticket buyers at the event will be given another incentive: special vouchers that can be used to help start their bid.
Marxteyn said, “We’ve been polling genres in the area for the past three years. It’s going to be fun seeing what genres people like when they start bidding, especially when we announce our new location for this year's festival. Every auction item is a little different — all people need to do is show up and we’ll explain the rest."
Winter in July will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Southern Utah Museum of Art, 13 S. 300 West in Cedar City. Admission is $10 at the door and includes the special bidder starter vouchers.
