_{By Zach Collier}

This weekend, the music of Provo composer Zach Sundwall will grace the silver screen at Zions Indie Film Fest. His original soundtrack will underscore the short film Ride In Paradise – a documentary from Invisible Mansion Pictures.

Ride in Paradise chronicles the story of Utahn Brad Behle. In the wake of a family tragedy, he finds himself wrestling with bitterness and anger. After a ten-year battle to find connection and peace, he discovers it in a most unexpected, yet life-changing way: by delivering a stuffed animal to a mother grieving the loss of her five-year-old son. This ignites a small chain of events that lead Brad to deliver hundreds of stuffed bears over the course of a decade to other parents who have also lost a child.

Sundwall is a composer for film, television, and video games. Early in life, he began playing the guitar and found a passion in classic and progressive rock. He particularly enjoyed instrumental music and began writing instrumental rock and metal in his teenage years, finding inspiration from guitarists like John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert, and many others. He went on to get a bachelor’s degree in Commercial Music from Brigham Young University.

During this time, Zach found that film scores touched him on a very deep, emotional level. He soon began writing cinematic music after discovering the world of digital music production. Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell, and Thomas Bergersen are among the many composers he cites as influences.

Ride In Paradise is produced by Anna Thalman, with cinematography by Devin Anderton and Kent Thalman. Kent Thalman also directed the film. Invisible Mansion Pictures will also showcase two additional films at Zions Indie Film Fest: the feature film The Loved and Lost, which tells the fictional story of a struggling couple whose children fall through the cracks; and Our Father, a concept short for a true family drama about Rachel Smartt’s struggle to unite her family and discover her own worth in the wake of her husband’s premature death. 

Ride In Paradise will eventually become a full length feature film, with Zach Sundwall once again providing music. You can catch all three films this weekend in Showhouse II at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. Our Father is showing Friday, March 1 at 2:45 PM. The Loved and Lost is showing Friday, March 1 at 6:30 PM. Ride In Paradise is showing Saturday, March 2 at 12 PM.

You can get passes for Zions Indie Film Fest here. Watch the trailer for Ride In Paradise below!