For anyone who has wanted to be in filmmaking, whether it’s as an actor or behind the scenes as a crew member, the Community Film Project is the place to be. It gives people a chance to use their talents or to enhance them. 

“The concept in community theater is to audition actors and that’s all they want,” said Kara Jensen, Community Film Project producer and actor. “This can be for people who have never acted before and we can teach them as they go. It’s the coolest thing to watch. People rise to the occasion. They just want to tell stories.”

Kayla Lawrence, with Kara Jensen in the background, signals another take during production. Courtesy photo

 Maybe they want to work in other roles, she said. “They can learn how to work the camera, be part of the crew, work the sound with all the mics and sound recordings.”

Anybody who puts in an audition Jensen said they make sure to watch their video. “We make sure to watch their videos and consider them. The coolest thing about this paradigm, I think, is that you can take professionals who have been doing it for a long time but then we’ve also got people that have completely different daytime jobs and this is something that they're just enjoying. This is an outlet for them.”

Jensen said they have people who have never acted before. “We’ve got people who have never been a part of something like this before and that’s the part as professionals we can teach them as we go.”

Currently the group is working on a second feature film, “Murder at the Lufferton Christmas Musical,” a family friendly musical whodunit that centers around a small town Christmas play. 

“This is our second feature film that we’re making,” said Bountiful resident Adam Figueira, Community Film Project education team lead. “The first film was back in 2017. It was called ‘Before Your Time’ and I think it’s available on Amazon and Tubi. It showed in local theaters then at the time.”

“Murder at the Lufferton Christmas Musical,” is a musical itself, he said. “We have original songs written by our community members and things like that. We are about 92% finished with production on it. We plan to have it out by Christmas 2027.”

There are upwards of 300 people involved, said Figueira. “There are actors, editors, music, and set crew members.”

The arts in particular are an important part of the community, he said. “What we’re trying to do is build a creative community and reach out to people who want to do films as locally as possible, involving as many people as possible.”

A lot of people have dreams of being in a movie or being involved in making a movie somehow, Figueira said. “We want to try to help those people find a gateway into that world. So we don’t expect anyone who’s involved in our project to have experience. We’ll teach them everything they need to know in the process.”

The best way to learn how to make movies is to make movies, he said. “But there can be a lot of barriers to that in the professional world. So our goal is to establish an organization that reaches out to people who are interested in being involved. We really have a strong community outreach focus.”

“We would really like to get the word out that this is what we’re doing,” said Jensen. “After we’re done with this film we’ll move on and maybe do some short films. We’d love to have more actors come in, more people that want to help on crew and just have turnover of who’s helping and who’s getting that kind of free film school.”

The Community Film Project just launched an Indiegogo campaign July 7 to help with some of the post production costs. It runs through Aug. 8. To get more information or to contribute visit https://www.communityfilmproject.com/.