The inaugural Park City Film Festival will pair its film screenings with four 90-minute panel discussions covering grief, trans storytelling, film criticism and personal narrative, organizers announced Friday, Oct. 2.

All four panels take place at Distrikt F, a 75-seat photography studio at 1205 Iron Horse Drive. Tickets are $20 each. That price includes coffee, tea and snacks, and they are on sale at parkcityfilm.org/festival.

Park City Film Executive Director Katy Wang said the nonprofit collaborated with filmmakers to shape each panel's topic, a departure from the typical festival approach. "Most filmmakers are used to being invited to participate in a panel and being told what the conversation will be," Wang told the Park Record. "So, we're outside the norm for most film festivals."

The festival runs Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Oct. 25, at the Jim Santy Auditorium at the Park City Library, 1255 Park Ave., with panels held separately at Distrikt F.

The Saturday, Oct. 24, lineup opens at noon with "Death, Grieving and How We Care for One Another." Park City native and Emmy-nominated filmmaker J.J. Gerber will lead a discussion tied to his opening-night documentary, "The Life We Leave," which follows a Washington man building the first large-scale human composting facility. The panel includes breakout sessions on grief, ritual, death care and human composting. Wang noted that legislation to legalize terramation, the technical term for human composting, is pending in Utah.

At 3 p.m. Saturday, "Finding Your Story" brings filmmakers Amy Jenkins, Matty Wishnow and Will Ropp together with moderator Meredith Lavitt, a filmmaker, producer and former associate director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program.

Sunday, Oct. 25, begins at 11 a.m. with "The Importance of Criticism to Art." Wishnow, director of the closing-night documentary "The Last Critic," will be joined by Tim Palmer, a University of Utah film and media arts professor, and arts writer and curator Kasey Lindley. The documentary profiles Robert Christgau, a pioneer of music criticism who wrote for the Village Voice.

The final panel, "Holding Space for Trans Stories," starts at 4 p.m. Sunday. Panelists include "Adam's Apple" director Amy Jenkins, Summit Pride Foundation board member Kris Campbell and Parkite Cami Richardson. "Adam's Apple" is a 20-year documentary about the transition of Jenkins' son and what it has meant to her family.

Wang said anyone for whom cost is a barrier can contact her at [email protected] to request access.

Park City Film is also partnering with Summit Bike Share to offer free two-hour electric bike rentals during the festival, with pickup outside the Jim Santy Auditorium. The two venues are about a 15-minute walk apart.