Jared and Jerusha Hess, the “Napoleon Dynamite” creators, have received their first Oscar nomination and embraced high-profile projects like “Minecraft” and the animated feature “Thelma the Unicorn,” which hits Netflix in May. Despite all this, they remain connected to their local community.
It was during their days as Brigham Young University film students, after all, that the origins of “Napoleon Dynamite” began to take root. And this year marked two decades since the film became an unlikely standout of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, getting acquired for nearly $5 million and effectively launching both of their careers.
Now, in somewhat of a full-circle moment, their first Oscar nomination also has a local tie-in: “Ninety-Five Senses” is the first production to emerge from the Salt Lake Film Society’s MAST program, an initiative that trains and pairs up-and-coming animators with established filmmakers.