Denver Film Festival


The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily at the Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver, Colorado, now the Anna and John J. Sie FilmCenter. Premiere events are held in the Buell Theatre and Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Before 2012, It was held in the Tivoli Union on the Auraria Campus.

Information

The festival features a diverse selection of films, ranging from independent to commercial from all over the world and is well attended by filmmakers. The festival is currently managed by the Denver Film Society and sponsored by Starz.

History

The first festival was held on May 4, 1978, and featured such films as Annie Hall, The Fury, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Hills Have Eyes and Pretty Baby. The festival kicked off with a 90-minute clip compilation from Warner Bros. titled ‘The Movies That Made Us.’ The festival was originally conceived and founded by Peter Warren, Ph.D., then a professor of mathematics at the University of Denver and by Irene Clurman, then the art critic for the Rocky Mountain News. The first artistic director was Ron Hecht, the manager of the Vogue theatre.
In the early years, Ron Henderson served as marketing director and subsequently as artistic director. Henderson recalls "There were no red carpets and no television cameras out front. We did a ribbon cutting with Dick Lamm. When we got inside it was a full house at the Old Centre theater, which was demolished before the next year's festival..
"Most notably, the weather was ominous - cloudy and cool. The opening-night party was at a private house and it was an invitational affair. When we got there, a cold rain was falling. We woke up the next morning, and there was a foot of wet snow on the ground, but it was springtime and by the end of the day, it was beautiful.
"The first festival obviously was very successful, so we decided to take it to a second year. It was really three years before we finally said, 'OK, this is a real thing, let's hire staff and incorporate as a nonprofit.' "

28th Denver Film Festival

The 28th Starz Denver Film Festival was held November 10–20, 2005.
AwardWinner
John Cassavetes AwardPhilip Baker Hall
Mayor's Career Achievement AwardAng Lee
Stan Brakhage Vision AwardRobert Breer

Special tributes were given to Claude Lelouch and Ryuichi Hiroki. The festival also included a focus on Japanese Cinema.

29th Denver Film Festival

The 29th Starz Denver Film Festival was held November 9–19, 2006 and featured 194 titles from 29 countries. 15 films were premiered. The festival was attended by 38,881 film goers and more than 180 filmmakers. The opening night film was 'Breaking and Entering' and the closing night film was Rescue Dawn.
AwardWinner
People's Choice for Best FeatureThe Lives of Others
People's Choice for Best DocumentaryThe Trials of Darryl Hunt
People's Choice for Best Shorttie: Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process & Big Girl
Emerging Filmmaker AwardThe Last Romantic
The Maysles Brothers Award for Best DocumentaryKurt Cobain About A Son
Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Best Feature FilmBeauty in Trouble
John Cassavetes AwardTim Robbins
Mayor's Career Achievement AwardAnthony Minghella
Stan Brakhage Vision AwardGeorge Kuchar

Special tributes were given to Vilmos Zsigmond, Wu Tian Ming, Scott Wilson and Allan King. The festival also included a focus on Canadian Cinema.

30th Denver Film Festival

The 30th Starz Denver Film Festival was held November 8 – 18, 2007. The official line-up was announced October 22.

31st Denver Film Festival

The 31st Starz Denver Film Festival was held November 13–23, 2008. The featured Red Carpet events were screenings of The Brothers Bloom, Slumdog Millionaire and Last Chance Harvey.
AwardWinner
Starz People's Choice Award for Narrative FeatureKatyń
Starz People's Choice Award for Documentary FeatureThey Killed Sister Dorothy
Starz People's Choice Award for Short FilmGranny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
Spike Lee Student Filmmaker AwardMultiple Choice
Maysles Brothers Award for Best DocumentaryAnother Planet
Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Best Feature FilmMoscow, Belgium
Excellence in Acting AwardRichard Jenkins

32nd Denver Film Festival

The 32nd Denver Film Festival was held November 12–22, 2009. The featured Red Carpet films included , The Last Station and The Young Victoria.
AwardWinner
John Cassavetes AwardJ. K. Simmons
Excellence in Acting AwardHal Holbrook
Mayor's Career Achievement AwardEd Harris

33rd Denver Film Festival

Festival was held November 3–14, 2010. It screened over 200 films and included a Focus on Iranian Cinema. Red Carpet Events including a screening of Morning, Rabbit Hole, Casino Jack, 127 Hours and Black Swan. The festival was dedicated to director George Hickenlooper who died in Denver just days before his film Casino Jack screened at the Festival.
AwardWinner
John Cassavetes AwardElliott Gould
Excellence in Acting AwardAaron Eckhart
Mayor's Career Achievement AwardDanny Boyle
Stan Brakhage Vision AwardP. Adams Sitney
Rising Star AwardKerry Bishé
Starz People's Choice Award for Feature Filmhappythankyoumoreplease
Starz People's Choice Award for DocumentaryGrace Paley: Collected Shorts
Starz People's Choice Award for Short FilmKeep Dancing
Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Best FeatureThe White Meadows
Maysles Brothers Award for Best DocumentarySecrets of the Tribe
Emerging Filmmaker AwardFanny, Annie & Danny
Spike Lee Student Filmmaker AwardDreams Awake
ASIFA-Colorado Award for the Best Animated ShortThe Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger

34th Denver Film Festival

The 2011 Festival was held November 2–13, with 247 Films programmed, including a Focus on South Korean Cinema. Red Carpet screenings included Like Crazy, The Descendants, and The Artist. This was the last year the festival held screenings at the Starz Film Center on the Auraria Campus. The 2011 Award Winners are listed below.
AwardWinner
John Cassavetes AwardJudy Greer
Excellence in Acting AwardAlan Cumming
Mayor's Career Achievement AwardJames Cromwell
Stan Brakhage Vision AwardAbigail Child
Rising Star AwardAdepero Oduye
Starz People's Choice Award for Feature FilmKinyarwanda
Starz People's Choice Award for DocumentaryTBA
Starz People's Choice Award for Short FilmTBA
Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Best FeatureVolcano
Maysles Brothers Award for Best DocumentaryYou've Been Trumped
New Directors AwardSophia Takal
Spike Lee Student Filmmaker AwardHuay-Bing Law's Benny
Liberty Global International Student Filmmaker AwardAriel Kleiman's Deeper Than Yesterday
ASIFA-Colorado Award for the Best Animated ShortPatrick Doyon's Sunday

35th Denver Film Festival

The 2012 festival was held November 1–11. It included a Focus on the Cinema of Argentina with 13 Argentine films in the program. Red Carpet events included the opening night film A Late Quartet, Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut, Quartet and the closing night film, Silver Linings Playbook. Special events at the festival included tributes to Dutch filmmaker Mijke de Jong, Argentine filmmaker Daniel Burman, Boulder, Colorado, filmmaker Stacey Steers, and the Colorado filmmaking collective, Milkhaus. Celebrity guests who were present to receive festival awards or for special presentations included, Tippi Hedren, George Romero, Andy Garcia, Vince Vaughn and Jason Ritter. Additional screenings were held at the Denver Pavilions off of 16th Street Mall. The 2012 award winners are below.

36th Denver Film Festival

The 2013 festival was held November 6–17, with a focus on Dutch Cinema. Red carpet screenings included, Labor Day, Nebraska and '. The 2013 award winners are below.
AwardWinner
John Cassavetes AwardHarry Dean Stanton
Excellence in Acting Award
Mayor's Career Achievement Award
Stan Brakhage Vision Award
Rising Star Award
Jack Gilford Award for Comedy
George Hickenlooper Honorary Award
Reel Social Club Indie Voice AwardLeo Fitzpatrick
Starz People's Choice Award for Feature FilmOne Chance
Starz People's Choice Award for Documentary'
Starz People's Choice Award for Short FilmWhat Do We Have In Our Pockets?
Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Best FeatureA Touch of Sin
Special Jury Award'
Maysles Brothers Award for Best DocumentaryThe Search For Emak Bakia
New Directors AwardDaniel Patrick Carbone for '
ASIFA-Colorado Award for the Best Animated ShortThomas Stellmach for Virtuoso Virtual
Best Actor - Domestic ShortLuzer Twesky for Where is Joel Baum?

37th Denver Film Festival

The 2014 Starz Denver Film Festival was held November 12–23. The 2014 award winners are below.
AwardWinner
Starz People's Choice Award for Narrative FeatureViva la libertà directed by Roberto Andò
Starz People's Choice Award for Documentary FeatureCapturing Grace directed by Dave Iverson
Starz People's Choice Award for Music VideoIrma, Save Me directed by Xavier Maingon
Starz People's Choice Award for Short FilmThe Bravest, The Boldest directed by Moon Molson
Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Best Foreign Feature FilmThe Tribe, directed by Miroslav Slaboshpitsky
Special Jury AwardAugust Winds directed by Gabriel Mascaro
Stations of the Cross directed by Dietrich Brüggemann
Maysles Brothers Award for Best DocumentaryThe Look of Silence directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
The American Independent Award for Best Feature FilmThe Midnight Swim directed by Sarah Adina Smith
ASIFA-Colorado Best Animated Short AwardSalmon Deadly Sins directed by Steven Vander Meer
The Liberty Global International Student Short AwardThe Bigger Picture directed by Daisy Jacobs
The Spike Lee Student Filmmaker AwardA Grand Canal directed by Johnny Ma
Feature Screenplay AwardLittle House written by Claire Fowler
Short Screenplay AwardPelham Bay Park written by John Burdeaux

42nd Denver Film Festival (DFF42)

The 2019 Denver Film Festival was held from October 30th to November 10th, 2019. After conclusion of the Festival, the following films were recognized as the Audience Award winners for the 42nd Denver Film Festival by a tally of ballots.
AwardWinnerSpecial Mention-
Audience Award for Narrative FeatureThe Conductor directed by Maria Peters-
Audience Award for Documentary Feature3 Days 2 Nights directed by John Breen-
Audience Award for Music VideoSalvatore Ganacci, "Horse" directed by Vedran Rupic-
Audience Award for Short Subject FilmPalliative directed by John Beder-
Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Best Feature FilmSong Without a Name , directed by Melina León The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, directed by Karim Aïnouz -
Maysles Brothers Award for Best DocumentaryScheme Birds directed by Ellen Fiske, Ellinor Hallin -
American Independent Award for Best Feature FilmSwallow directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis Olympic Dreams directed by Jeremy Teicher -
Special Mention Jury PrizeMidnight Family directed by Luke Lorentzen -
Marilyn Marsh Saint-Veltri Award for Best Student Animated Short FilmDaughter directed by Daria KashcheevaRoadkill, directed by Leszek Mozga-
The Liberty Global International Student Filmmaker AwardShe-Pack directed by Fanny Ovesen-
The Liberty Global Domestic Student Filmmaker AwardThe Clinic directed by Elivia ShawDunya’s Day, directed by Raed Alsemari
Short Screenplay AwardPelham Bay Park written by John Burdeaux-
Rare Pearl AwardPortrait of a Lady on Fire, directed by Céline Sciamma-

Awards previously given or announced:
Maria and Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award
THE INVISIBLE WITNESS
Director: Stefano Mordini
John Cassavetes Award Recipient:
RIAN JOHNSON
Stan Brakhage Vision Award Recipient:
VINCENT GRENIER
Brit Withey Artistic Director Fund Recipient:
GYÖRGY PÁLFI