Salt Lake Comic Con introduces wave of new films


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SALT LAKE CITY — Folded into the list of special guests, wild attractions and fan-made costumes parading around Salt Lake City’s first ever Comic Con is a line-up of geek-themed films ready for the event's premiere film festival.

Filmmakers from around the country submitted titles ranging from fan-centric documentaries like “Done the Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity,” to original fantasy titles like “Orc Wars,” written and directed by Utah local Kohl Glass.

“ ‘Orc Wars’ is my first feature, and it’s a really fun movie,” Glass told KSL.com in a recent interview. “For what we were trying to do, we really nailed it.”

Funded in part from a late Kickstarter campaign, “Orc Wars” follows an elf princess, Aleya (Masiela Lusha), and her journey to modern-day Earth. Pursued by an especially angry mob of orcs, Aleya seeks the protection of an often-shirtless ex-Marine, John Norton (Rusty Joiner), and a blind, sword-wielding Native American, Whitefeather (Wesley John).

Scene from "Orc Wars"
Scene from "Orc Wars"

“This is the first year of Salt Lake Comic-Con,” Glass said. “I’d been hearing for years that people wanted it, and so when they announced it, I was like, I want to do whatever I can to support it.”

In addition to participating in several of the panels going on throughout the convention, Glass is showing his support for the event by making Comic Con’s film festival the location for his “Orc Wars” premiere. Bringing back key cast members, like “Pirates of the Caribbean” veteran Isaac C. Singleton Jr., Glass is hoping to make his piece of the festival as memorable as possible.

“You only really get one premiere with a film, and I felt like with the crowd at Comic Con, it was the right place to do it.”

The film festival kicked off today at 1 p.m. with a bloc of sci-fi action short films, and will continue running throughout the duration of the three-day event. “Orc Wars” is set to premiere at 7 p.m. Friday. Travis Poppleton has been covering movie news and film reviews for Deseret News and KSL.com since 2010, and continues to contribute coverage for film festivals and other live events in Utah. You can contact him at tspoppleton@gmail.com.

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Travis Poppleton

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