Photo of the day
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the 45th Denver Film Festival, with about 250 performing a variety of jobs under the supervision of Volunteer Manager Seth Degler, who says many come back year after year.
What’s happening today
The 45th Denver Film Festival’s first full weekend day will bring 35 programs to nine screens, including features, collections of shorts and even an episode of TV’s “How to Build a Sex Room,” an original Netflix series filmed entirely in Colorado (4 p.m. at the Sie Film Center, 46 minutes).
Screening of the day
Trailer: ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’
Today’s “special presentation” is a 6:15 p.m. screening of Oscar-winning documentarian Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” which chronicles the work of artist Nan Goldin, who protested against Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin. (Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave., 117 minutes)
What happened yesterday
Daniel Goldhaber, left, talks about his film ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ with Denver Film Festival Artistic Director Matt Campbell.
Following a sold-out screening of his eco-terrorism thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” Boulder filmmaker Daniel Goldhaber announced that the film has been picked up by Neon for wide theatrical release in the spring. In this (very) near-future climate disaster story where rain is starting to burn human skin, a crew of college-age environmental activists plot to disrupt the nation’s oil supply in a desperate attempt to wake people up. “My parents have spent the past 30 years working in climate research and technology, so they raised me with a good sense of doom,” Goldhaber said to laughs. His intent with the film was to look at the heroic (and even arguably responsible) role of environmental extremism in the existential fight against climate change.
With 230 films to choose from, here’s a helpful way to start your search
Off the beaten path
A new series launching this year is called “Stories from Interesting Times” that will initiate discussions around four topics that are emerging in many of this years chosen films that touch on our everyday lives: First up: Alternative Radio Founder David Barsamian and Rocky Mountain Community Radio Managing Editor Maeve Conran lead a free conversation on the state of the media at 5 p.m. in theater No. 8 at the AMC movieplex at 826 Albion St. Among the media-related films in this year’s festival: “She Said” and “Turn Every Page.”
Quote of the day
Denver native Will Seefried talks about his short film ‘Homesick’ at the 2022 Denver Film Festival on Thursday.
“Our sound guy got lost in the uterus!” – Denver School of the Arts graduate Will Seefried, talking about his short film “Homesick.” (As a theater critic in 2006, I said of young Will’s performance in the Littleton Town Hall Arts Center’s production of “Bye Bye Birdie,” starring TV’s future “Supergirl” Melissa Benoist that Seefried “was last seen hustling down Main Street with the show he’s pilfered in tow.”)
OK, about that film …
“Homesick” is a 16-minute film about an unhappy man who attends a retreat that offers adults a second chance at a happy childhood. Said Seefried: “I do think that at some point it is too late to change an unhappy childhood – but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a happy adulthood.”
Information and tickets
Go to denverfilm.org
Scene from the 2022 Denver Film Festival on Thursday at the AMC movieplex.