After a completely virtual 2020, the Denver Film Festival returns this year with 233 movies, as well as face-to-face panel discussions, parties and interactive experiences.
Major titles such as "Spencer" played by Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, and films expected to win Oscars will lead the event, while Will Smith's TV series "King Richard" put it to an end. Celebrities Jamie Donan ("Fifty Shades of Grey" series), Annabella Ciola ("Jungle Fever") and Clifton Collins Jr. ("Westworld", "Capote") and others The awards will bring a successful conclusion to the celebration.
"This year is a mixed festival, so our goal is to maintain our live attendance while increasing virtual screenings," said art director Matt Campbell. "This is a brand new thing for us, so we are trying to see what kind of audience we can generate."
Although the past film festival attracted a total of 50,000 to 60,000 attendees (i.e. tickets sold), and ticket sales for this year’s event were strong, returning there can be daunting-even for experienced movie fans . This is a handy guide for this year's festival.
The 44th Denver Film Festival will be held from November 3 (Wednesday) to November 14 (Sunday). There is no doubt that the center of the film festival is the Sie FilmCenter located at 2510 E. Colfax Ave., which is the home of Denver movies and the location of dozens of screenings. This three theater building is 90 days before the daily premiere. Open in minutes. The shiny new AMC 9 CO 10 (826 Albion St.) will also host dozens of screenings.
The red carpet screening will once again be held at the historic Ellie Caulkins Opera House (1385 Curtis Street), and will provide non-film programs such as VR and mixed interactive experiences in the McNichols Civic Center building or the festival annex as the organizers call it ( 144 W. Colfax Avenue).
Part of the screening will also be held in the Sturm Family Auditorium in the Freyer-Newman Center at the Denver Botanic Garden (1007 York Street). Check the map and opening hours of each venue at denverfilm.org/denverfilmfestival/dff44/venues.
With the exception of McNichols, all venues have parking lots, as well as meter and street parking spaces.
After Denver Films issued a notice in late September requiring people to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a vaccine approved by the FDA or WHO, each venue will require participants to pass a verification check before the screening. (The organizers say that "fully vaccinated" is defined as a person two weeks after the second dose in a two-dose series and two weeks after a single dose.).
Officials stated that children under the age of 12 who are currently not eligible for the vaccine must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test performed within 72 hours after the screening or activity start time. Each station will be located at or near the entrance of each venue. After entering the room, all guests aged 2 years and older must wear a mask indoors, unless they actively eat and/or drink, and regardless of the vaccination status. For complete details, see denverfilm.org/denverfilmfestival/dff44/covid-safety.
The Denver Film Festival will sell tickets at Sie's "pre-sale" time until November 2, but organizers encourage people to stick to virtual tickets, which will not be printed out but scanned on smartphones. Tickets will also be on sale at all venues (if any) one hour before the first screening of the day.
The organizer said that participants must be seated 15 minutes before the start of the show. There are no late seats, no refunds or exchanges.
Tickets for regular screenings are $17; weekday matinee is $11 (before 5:30 pm); special lectures are $22; creative dialogue (filmmakers and other discussions) is $10; opening night, core and closing night red carpet The show is $45 and the red carpet matinee show is $35 (both at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House). The $75 package includes an opening party allowance. All prices for Denver Movie memberships are cheaper.
Part of this year's programs and bonus features will also be on-demand on the Denver Film Company's virtual theater platform operated by Eventive. Visit watch.eventive.org/denverfilmfestival for more details.
Tickets for all screenings are available at denverfilm.org/denverfilmfestival/ticketing. Call the ticket office at 720-381-0813 for more information.
You must read the timetable before buying tickets, but don't wait too long as many screenings (especially at Sie FilmCenter) are sold out in advance. At this time, the group package has also been sold out.
All Red Carpet presentations, although expensive compared to regular screenings, look very eye-catching. This includes the aforementioned "Spencer" (November 3); Joaquin Phoenix's "C'mon C'mon" (November 5); the horse racing show "Jockey" (November 11); Focus on the "Torn" climbing profile of the late Alex Lowe and David Bridge (November 13); and the closing night feature "King Richard", starring Will Smith, playing the young Venus and Serre Na Williams' father.
The Spanish film directed by Pedro Almodóvar and director Pedro Almodóvar tells the story of two single expectant mothers who met in the hospital while preparing for childbirth and learned from each other in the process The story, starring Penélope Cruz. Other special performances include the good-looking "Memoirs" (starring Tilda Swinton); "A Chiara" (Jonas Carpignano's painful Italian drama); and "Who Are We: American Racism" History".
Executive Producers Kirby Bryan and Emily Deschanel ("Bones") contributed "a decent home", described as "the story of David and Goliath, which tells the move to save Aurora's Denver Meadows Mobile Home Park" The three-year struggle of the director Alysa Nahmias' "Krimes" documentary about an artist prisoner, while Rebekah Henderson's Denver-based "Running with My Girls" focuses on women running for office.
Painful and disturbing themes abound, which is not surprising. Jamie Boyle's "Anonymous Sisters" tracked the prevalence of opioids in the Boyle family. Alexandre Phillippe's "The Takeing" examines Hollywood’s way of portraying stolen indigenous lands in westerns, and Alan Dominguez’s "Document Ed." Ed). Presents a meta-documentary (with a strong local perspective) about women seeking asylum in a church.
Most shows are divided into several sections, such as CineLatinx, American Independence, Women’s Film, CinemaQ, Social Justice Focus, Short Film Packages, Culinary Films, Late Night and Short Film Programs, and Italian and British/Irish films.
The Denver Film Festival is not a celebrity-driven film festival, although it has a history of proudly attended by celebrities-for example, Emma Stone and director Damian Chazelle contributed to the 2016 "Philharmonic City" and past visitors Steve Martin, Alfa Woodard, Bill Murray, Robert Altman, Judy Greer, Alan Cumming, Ang Lee, Francis Ford Co. Paula and Harry Dean Stanton.
As mentioned earlier, "50 Shades" big man and legally great actor Jamie Donan will participate in the screening of his latest film "Belfast" on November 10th, and will receive an outstanding performance at the festival in 2021 prize. Annabella Sciorra ("The Sopranos") will return to participate in Spike Lee's "Junge Fever" 30th Anniversary Celebration and receive the professional achievement award from the festival. Clifton Collins Jr. (Google him, you will know his face immediately) will receive the John Cassowitz Award.
View the full schedule of appearances and special events at denverfilm.org/denverfilmfestival/dff44.
Denver Films CEO James Mega said that this year's event made Denver Films more expensive to produce because its usual in-kind sponsors could not provide many of the products and services they had in the past. a year ago. This means that compared with the 2019 budget, Denver Films had to spend approximately $300,000 more on these previously donated items, bringing the total expenditure for this year's event to approximately $1 million.
However, federal, state, and local grants and other fundraising activities have kept the non-profit organization in good standing. Mejia said that attendees should look forward to all common features and pay more attention to interactive experiences. Although Mejia did not disclose the current sales status of pre-sale tickets, he said that they are expected to match the strong attendance in 2019.
"So far, our best sellers are the red carpet and the movies produced in Colorado," he said. "This is really exciting because we pay more attention to contact and promotion with the Colorado film industry."
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