The 47th Denver Film Festival is moving all but one of its red carpet screenings to a new location this year, alongside Colorado premieres of buzzy indies like ‘The Piano Lesson’ and ‘The Brutalist’, and in-person guests including Patricia Clarkson, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
According to nonprofit producer Denver Film, the festival, which runs from November 1 to 10 in multiple locations, will feature 185 narrative features, shorts and documentaries, as well as parties, panels, workshops and a gala.
Single tickets for screenings, plus special and gala presentations and Red Carpets, go on sale to Denver Film members on Thursday, October 3 and to the public on Friday, October 4 at denverfilm.org/denverfilmfestival.
For the first time this year, the festival’s opening and closing night red carpet displays will take place in the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver’s Holiday Theater, a historic building that the museum has restored in the Highland neighborhood and where lately screenings, panels and musical performances have taken place. The Red Carpets are moving there from the Ellie Caulkins Opera House downtown, a favorite and prestigious venue that Denver Film has struggled to fill in recent years — even before the pandemic.
However, the Centerpiece presentation of “The Order” will still take place at the Ellie. The film is adapted from a nonfiction book co-written by former Rocky Mountain News reporter and current Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn, which looks at a violent, far-right group of neo-Nazis that operated in Washington in the 1980s. Starring Jude Law and Nicholas Holt and playing Ellie on November 8.
Red carpets can be booked for opening and closing nights at MCA’s Holiday Theater, with the first being the November 1 screening of ‘The Piano Lesson’. The August Wilson adaptation stars Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington; writer Virgil Williams will appear in person to accept Denver Film’s Excellence in Writing Award.
The festival concludes with ‘5 September’, in which Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro star in the dramatization of the hostage crisis of the 1972 Munich Olympics. It plays at the MCA Holiday Theater on November 9.
Several premieres are also scheduled for Denver, including “The Brutalist,” “Better Man,” “The Room Next Door,” “Emilia Perez,” “Blitz,” “Oh, Canada,” “The Last Showgirl” and “Nightbitch” – the latter starring Colorado native Amy Adams.
Fest producers also said this year they will host celebrities like Patricia Clarkson (“Sharp Objects,” “Six Feet Under”), who will receive the Cassavetes Award during a screening of “Lilly” at the MCA Denver Holiday Theater. Marianne Jean-Baptiste will receive Denver Film’s Excellence in Acting Award following a screening of “Hard Truths,” according to Denver Film. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”) will be on hand for his CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Film Award, following a screening of “All That We Love” and the short film “It’s Okay.”
Directors RaMell Ross (“The Nickel Boys”), Jason Reitman (“Saturday Night”), Nnamdi Asomugha (“The Knife”), Cristiana Dell’Anna (“Cabrini”) and others will appear in person in addition to their screenings.
Denver Film’s Sie FilmCenter will serve as the festival anchor, with additional screenings at the Ellie, Denver Botanic Gardens, AMC 9 + CO 10 and the MCA Holiday Theater.