6 Must-See Films With a Local Twist at This Year’s Denver Film Festival

If you bump into Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson or filmmaker Jason Reitman (Juno, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) while out and about this weekend, thank the Denver Film Festival. The 47th installment of the city’s biggest week for cinephiles brings Hollywood celebrities, acclaimed directors, and more to the Mile High City. Ferguson is in town to receive the CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Film Award for his work representing the LGBTQ+ community on the silver screen, while Reitman will earn the festival’s 5280 Award for his newest project, Saturday Night.

And the star power doesn’t stop there: Catch the festival’s opening night screening of The Piano Lesson on Friday, November 1, starring Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington, or buy tickets to Oh, Canada with Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, and Jacob Elordi. Beyond the Hollywood glam, though, the Denver Film Festival offers local filmmakers—some who aren’t even old enough to drive yet—the opportunity to showcase their work. So, we’ve rounded up six films with Colorado connections you have to catch at this year’s festival, which takes place at theaters across town.

Blind Sighted

Don’t let the 13-minute runtime fool you: This documentary short by 15-year-old filmmaker Mitch Davila-Armendano is a concise yet powerful portrayal of disability and prejudice, with some tasteful levity. Davila-Armendano attends the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, where he collaborates with several of his classmates to bring attention to the challenges they face. Filmed in partnership with the Colorado Springs–based Youth Documentary Academy, Blind Sighted illustrates how kids with disabilities struggle to find belonging.

Showings:

• Wednesday, November 6, at 7 p.m. at Sie FilmCenter
• Thursday, November 7, at 4:15 p.m. at Sie FilmCenter

Champions of the Golden Valley

Shortly before the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, young men and women living in the Asian country’s alpine villages built makeshift skis and took part in a one-of-a-kind race. The documentary Champions of the Golden Valley is an uplifting underdog sports story that reveals an unseen side of Afghan life and culture. Since the country fell to the Taliban, however, the documentary’s protagonists (many of whom are women) have sought refuge around the world, which is why Boulder-based director Ben Sturgulewski and producer Katie Stjernholm have started a fundraising campaign to benefit the skiers.

Showings:

• Saturday, November 9, at 3:30 p.m. at Holiday Theater
• Sunday, November 10, at 10:30 a.m. at Sie FilmCenter

Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory

Not only did director Jeff Gipe grow up near the Rocky Flats Plant, a former manufacturing facility located roughly 10 miles south of Boulder that produced nuclear weapons parts, but his father also worked at the factory. This link to the plant gave Gipe a lifelong interest in its operations, the FBI raid that shut it down, and its lasting legacy on the environment and residents’ health. In Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory, Gipe interviews employees, residents, and law enforcement agents to expose the facility’s questionable past and ultimate demise. Each screening of the documentary at the festival will be followed by a conversation with Gipe and the movie’s protagonists.

Showings:

• Saturday, November 2, at 4:30 p.m. at Sie FilmCenter
• Wednesday, November 6, at 2 p.m. at Sie FilmCenter
• Friday, November 8, at 2 p.m. at Sie FilmCenter

Chain Reactions

Denver-based production company Exhibit A Pictures specializes in creating documentaries that deconstruct pop culture trends. Creative director and founder of the firm, Alexandre O. Philippe, has analyzed Alfred Hitchcock’s famous shower scene from Psycho in the documentary 78/52 and studied the similarities between director David Lynch’s work and The Wizard of Oz in Lynch/Oz. For his Denver Film Festival submission this year, Philippe turns his critical gaze to cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In Chain Reactions, celebrities like Patton Oswalt, Stephen King, and Takashi Miike discuss how one low-budget horror movie shaped their own creative pursuits.

Showings:

• Saturday, November 2, at 9:15 p.m. at AMC House 1
• Monday, November 4, at 4 p.m. at AMC House 1
• Thursday, November 7, at 3:45 p.m. at AMC House 1

Lovers

When two women return to Denver for a funeral, they realize that a lot has changed about their hometown—except for the local dive bar. In Lovers, the main characters are forced to face their grief with the help of regulars and live music. Denver-based director and screenwriter Taylor McFadden shot the film almost entirely in the Mile High City, with Broadway’s Hi-Dive bar serving as the set of the titular location. The flick also features a new song from Denver folk singer Nathaniel Rateliff. Catch a post-screening discussion with McFadden and actors Angela Trimbur and Amelia Meath.

Showings:

• Sunday, November 3, at 5:30 p.m. at Holiday Theater
• Tuesday, November 5, at 3 p.m. at Sie FilmCenter

The Order

As the centerpiece showing of the festival and one of the year’s most highly anticipated films, The Order is a psychological thriller filled with bank robberies, heists, and uprisings. Based on the book The Silent Brotherhood by Denver author and City Councilman Kevin Flynn, The Order stars Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult as an FBI agent and white supremacist, respectively. As the domestic terrorists work toward taking over the U.S. government, the FBI tries to track them down before the nation falls apart. Stick around after the screening for a conversation with Flynn and one of the film’s executive producers, Kate Susman.

Showings:

• Friday, November 8, at 7 p.m. at Ellie Caulkins Opera House