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History of the festival
 Founded in 1999 by filmmakers, Nathan Fackrell, Jason deVilliers, and Matt Fackrell, the Eclipse Film Festival has been gaining popularity each day and will forever more eclipse the town of St. George every November. The festival had beginnings near the end of 1995, when at the age of 18, twin brothers and young filmmakers Matthew and Nathan Fackrell wanted to create a film festival in their hometown of St. George, Utah. They felt St. George was a perfect area for a film festival to be held. They knew a film festival would grow to become a major attraction. Centralized in the midst of national parks, gorgeous scenery, and wonderful weather, the town and community hold a great love of the arts. They knew that local, statewide, and even national filmmakers needed an outlet to show off their abilities as film artists, because to most of them Hollywood is as far away as a seat in congress.
Friend and fellow filmmaker, Jason deVilliers, had the same aspiration of creating a film festival in St. George. He joined with the Fackrells in making preparations for the event. These creators knew that the first year of the festival would prove to be a rough draft for things to come. With the acquisition of sponsors, promotion and advertising for the festival began. At the time the City of St. George began to support the festival, it was a great honor to receive the support of the Community Arts Division of St. George and its former Administrator, David W. Pursley.
"The Southern Utah Amateur Film Festival" was the original name chosen. The Fackrells put a great amount of time, work and effort into the festival. Finally, in November of 1999, St. George’s first ever film festival debuted before a sell out crowd in the beautiful Pioneer Opera House. Nearly 250 people came to support this new event. The film festival was a success! Awards were given out for films and filmmakers in various categories. Many had great things to say, and were excited for the festival to become an annual event. The Southern Utah Amateur Film Festival was a great start for something that would become far greater.
After all this Nate, Jason, and Matt had their work cut out for them. The three of them wanted to bring the festival forward into the mainstream and turn it into something outstanding. They began planning the beginnings of a production company that would deal with the field of entertainment; making feature films, short films, documentaries, promotional videos, commercials, etc. They needed a new name for the film festival, one that it would forever be known by. The name finally came to them on the way home from the Sundance Film Festival. Many names were thought up, but only one of them mentioned fit. So thus their company became "Eclipse Entertainment," and from then on, the festival was to be known as the "Eclipse Film Festival."
Most festivals have large committees to oversee its creation and growth. The Eclipse Film Festival had only three to oversee everything. Matt, Jason and Nate soon acquired the help and strength of their friends and fellow film makers, Demitrius Graham, David Chase and Casey Nierderhauser. Jason started by creating the Eclipse Film Festival logo. The enthusiastic group began gaining more support through local sponsors. Casey created the new festival web page thus allowing everyone around the world to learn about the festival. As a team they have worked together, giving up much of their free time, to see this festival succeed and grow.
With the support of the community, sponsors, friends and family, these creators know that the Eclipse Film Festival will continue to grow into something grand. It will be a great staple for the arts in Southern Utah and the City of St. George. The creators hope to see the dreams of filmmakers turn into a reality, and the Eclipse Film Festival is a perfect chance for such an opportunity. This is the past, present and future of the Eclipse Film Festival. Make yourself apart of it, and watch for the Eclipse, because IT’S COMING!
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