Denver Film Festival shines a spotlight on Colorado stories
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"Lover," directed by Taylor McFadden, takes place in Denver. Photo: Courtesy of Denver Film Festival
Movie lovers, rejoice. Tickets go on sale at 10am Friday for this year's Denver Film Festival.
Why it matters: It's an annual celebration of diverse voices in cinema, providing a platform for indie filmmakers and global talent to showcase their work and talk to fans.
The big picture: The festival opens its 47th year Nov. 1 with 185 films, documentaries and shorts — with 22 Colorado films featured in the lineup.
- The screenings take place across the city through Nov. 10 at venues including the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Botanic Gardens, AMC 9 + CO 10 and the MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater.
What to watch: The red-carpeted opening night features "The Piano Lesson," a Denzel Washington-produced adaptation of the 1987 August Wilson play. Set in the aftermath of the Great Depression, it follows a Black family at odds over whether to sell or hold onto an heirloom piano.
- "The Order" — based on a nonfiction book written by former Rocky Mountain News reporter and current Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn — stars Jude Law as an FBI agent tracking a white supremacist group and its charismatic leader.
- "September 5" closes out the festival. The historical thriller takes viewers inside the moment during the 1972 Munich Olympics when an American sports broadcasting team was thrust into reporting on Israeli athletes taken hostage.
Zoom in: "Lovers" — which centers around two women who return to their Denver hometown for the funeral of a friend who's taken his own life — is executive produced by Colorado's very own singer-songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff, who also debuts a new song in the film.
- Other local screenings not to miss include "Blind Sighted," a short documentary about students at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind who challenge societal misconceptions.
- And "Half-Life of Memory: America's Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory," which focuses on the past, present and future of the Rocky Flats Plant in Arvada, where the U.S. secretly made thousands of atomic bombs.