filmfesttitleFilm goers mark your calendars!  Mesquite’s ‘Best of Fest” is back for the second year and promises to be bigger than last year’s inaugural event, screening 12 feature documentaries along with six short films.  The ‘Best of Fest’ film festival is a partnership between the Eureka Community Initiative, DocUtah and Redd Hills Cinema, Eureka Casino Resort and Mesquite resident Ken Cook.

The Festival kicks off with a cocktail reception and meet and greet on Tuesday, September 9 at 6 p.m. at Redd Hills Cinema.  Like last year, the Spectrum movie critic Bruce Bennett will give guests a festival overview.   The film My Father’s Highway will be shown at 7 p.m. followed by a question and answer period with Director Phil Tuckett.    My Father’s Highway is the epic story of the building of the stretch of I15 Highway through the Virgin River Gorge.  This event is free and open to the public.

The festival runs Wednesday, September 10 through Friday, September 12, with all films being shown at Redd Hills Cinema.  This year, movie goers will be asked to rate all the films with the Best of Fest Viewer’s Choice winner to be shown on Friday.  Seating is on a first come first served basis and all of the films have been scheduled to screen twice.  Schedules and film synopsis can be found at www.EurekaCommunityInitiative.com.   Please refer to festival guide for show times.

Advance purchase Festival and Patron passes are available at JS Merchant inside the Eureka Casino.   An All Film Festival pass is $40.00.  A limited number of Patron passes are available for $50.00 and include all the films plus the Festival’s “It’s a Wrap Party!” on Friday night at the Eureka.  Individual tickets can be purchased at Redd Hills Cinema for $5.00 per film, which in many cases, also includes one of the shorts.  All proceeds from ticket sales to benefit Mesquite Reads, a summer reading program at Virgin Valley Elementary school.   For additional information on the Best of Fest film festival or Mesquite Reads, please contact Gerri Chasko at 702-345-4726.