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October 22, 2013

Starz Denver Film Festival 2013 - The Schedule

The Denver Film Society had a successful Kickstarter campaign this past Summer, raising enough money for four digital projectors, three of which are housed in the society's Sie three screen theater. It's not only theaters that are forced to go digital or go dark, but film festivals as well, so this allows the Starz Denver Film Festival to continue, with a second year of screening at the Sie Theater as well as the UA Denver Pavilion in downtown Denver.

Who is this Sie named a couple of times? John Sie is the retired founder of Starz Entertainment, based near Denver. Sponsorship of the film festival, and contributions to the film society's theater are part of the connection. As for this year's festival, it's at least part of the reason why the closing night film is At Middleton, distributed by Starz subsidiary Anchor Bay. And for all I know, it could be a pretty good film. Here's the trailer. Star Andy Garcia will be in attendance, The film also has Vera Farmiga, Tom Skerritt and Peter Reigert in the cast. Considering that the other special presentations are Labor Day, Nebraska and August: Osage County, the inclusion of At Middleton makes sense in terms of the relationship between the film society and John and Anna Sie.

Now in its 36th year, and even with the ability to provide digital projection at all screening venues, the festival sometimes seems more vulnerable than venerable. Some of the titles I would have expected are bypassing Denver for the AFI Festival which is rolling out at the same time. This is in contrast to past years where there seems to have been a better number of shared titles.

The entire festival schedule is here.

What I will cover will be only a small fraction of what is presented. Part of the "World Cinema" section includes a selection of fourteen films from The Netherlands, with a new film by the most famous Dutch filmmaker ever, Paul Verhoeven. Some of the entries up for the foreign language Oscar include The Great Beauty and Ilo Ilo. While a good number of the films will, or already have, theatrical release in the U.S., this might be the only chance for those in the Denver area to see the films on the big screen. Keep in mind that the schedule is subject to change with some possible last minute additions, as well a repeat showings of some of the more popular films. My coverage will coincide with the festival schedule.

Posted by Peter Nellhaus at October 22, 2013 07:25 AM