What is DocUtah?
(taken from DocUtah.com) Have you ever seen a film that made you laugh? Cry? Taught you something about yourself? Or about the world around you? Documentary films play an important part in the way we communicate with one another. DOCUTAH Festival Director, Phil Tuckett, understands this perhaps as well as anyone.
For many years Phil, the mastermind behind DOCUTAH, worked as a producer, director, writer, editor, and cameraman for NFL Films and in 1982 was named Vice President of Special Projects. During his tenure, he won 30 Emmy Awards for shows like "Football America", "The 100 Yard Universe", "Autumn Ritual", and "Lost Treasures of NFL Films". He also produced non-sports related programming like "Blood from a Stone" for the History Channel, "Faces of Evil" for TNT, and music videos for a wide variety of artists including B.B. King, Santana, Def Leppard, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. In addition, Phil and his wife Judy have started their own production company, Bristlecone Films.
Before his career at NFL films, Phil attended Dixie College where he played football and majored in English. He finished his BA at Weber State and played one season for the San Diego Chargers before embarking on a 38-year career at NFL films.
Phil has returned to St. George as an associate professor of digital film and executive director of the Dick Nourse Center for Media Innovation at Dixie State College of Utah. During the past year, CMI has grown from a gleam in the eye of Dr. Randal Chase, chair of the communication department, to a full blown multi-media production unit. All projects in the CMI are student driven with faculty oversight and represent a wonderful blend of academics and real world practical application.
With a film background this rich and his roots going deep into the Southern Utah soil, it was only logical for Phil to want to create a documentary film festival in the canyonlands that he loves. Thus, DOCUTAH was born.
One of the important aspects of DOCUTAH is having an academic component. Dixie State College will play a significant part in this area of the Festival. Being one of the few college-based festivals will provide an established infrastructure to DOCUTAH. A festival committee of industry professionals who have relocated to Southern Utah from around the world lends even more credibility to our endeavor.
Another aspect of the festival is the fine art vision for DOCUTAH. Artist Jeff Ham has created the festival artwork for our inaugural poster. His iconic images will brand DOCUTAH as a festival worth considering both now and in the future.
The final elements of our vision relate to providing more than just a place to watch films. We will provide master class seminars as part of the festival for students and attendees alike, as well as a distributor marketplace.
By blending the attractions of breathtaking Southern Utah with a love of documentaries, we hope that many professional and student film makers embrace what DOCUTAH has to offer. Brace yourselves because DOCUTAH has arrived—now and for the future; 2010 is just the beginning.
Mr. Tuckett gave us a preview of one of many films to be screened at DocUtah which truly was an inspiring story involving our Armed Forces and those involved in the Vietnam War.
The festival will be September 16-25, 2010 - the DocUtah website has all the information you need to identify which films or all films you choose to watch during the festival.
Next week Mr. Ruben Garcia, XO of the Dixie Care and Share will join us.
Until then,
Yours in Rotary,
-Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (this is my SAG name)
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