The 10 best days of the year for local cinefiles are nearly in frame. And those most familiar with the prestigious Denver Film Festival will immediately note that’s 10, not the usual 12. That’s just one change in store for the leaner and keener 46th annual popcorn extravaganza coming up Nov. 3-12.

Like most arts organizations around the world, Denver’s signature film celebration is in ongoing bounceback mode from the devastating pandemic shutdown. After attracting an all-time high of about 40,000 attendees in 2019, last year brought out just 20,737 – a drop of 48%. As a result, the 2023 fest is reducing the number of feature-length films offered from 143 to 109. That still allows for a dizzying array of films, panels, immersive activities and parties – far more than any one film fan could ever absorb. And, on the bright side, pre-fest ticket sales are trending up, and many screenings are already selling out, said Denver Film CEO Kevin Smith, who thinks it’s reasonable to think 2023 might match last year’s attendance, even with about 27 percent less programming.

Another sign of the festival’s rescaling: There will only be one blowout screening at the posh Ellie Caulkins Opera House – ”American Fiction,” at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3. Smith believes having just one big night under the downtown arches will only make that party all the more special.

Most screenings will again take place at the Sie Film Center, the AMC9 (at 826 Albion St.) and the Denver Botanic Gardens. Two new venues will host special screenings – the Museum of Nature and Science and the MCA Denver at the Holiday.

Here is a primer on the 2023 fest, including a handy list suggested films based on your personal tastes (with tons of helpful input from Denver Film Artistic Director Matt Campbell):

• Celebrity sightings: Look for actor Michael Shannon (“The Shape of Water”) to receive the festival’s Breakthrough Director Award for his debut film, “Eric LaRue” – which is sure to hit Coloradans close to home. It stars Judy Greer as the mother of a school shooter. (7 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Sie FilmCenter.) … Emmy Award winning actor Larry Wilmore will produce a live recording of his podcast, “Black on the Air,” at 10 a.m. Nov. 10 from the Jacquard Hotel in Cherry Creek.

• Opening night: “American Fiction” stars Jeffrey Wright as a stalled author whose work has been deemed “not Black enough,” so he writes a satirical novel under a pseudonym aiming to expose the publishing world’s hypocrisies. “I’m excited to have a comedy as our opening film this year,” Campbell said. “It is a really smart, intelligent story that has something to say about our contemporary attitudes toward race in the United States.”

• Oh, my Madea! Another centerpiece screening will be “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story” at 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Underneath the multi-layered persona of media titan Tyler Perry is a man working to transform his childhood trauma from pain into promise. “This was a very eye-opening film, and it really made me appreciate where he’s come from and what he has done – on his own and as independently as anyone could,” Campbell said. (Perry will not be present.)

• Found in space: Two space-themed films will be screened at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, including the Closing Night spotlight, “I.S.S.” Rock-star director Gabriela Cowperthwaite (who grew up in Colorado and brought the phenomenal documentary “The Grab” to the festival last year) will receive the Barbara Bridges Inspiration Award at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 in the museum’s Infinity Theater. “I.S.S.” is a narrative story – it’s a high-stakes thriller set entirely in the confines of the International Space Station that pits astronauts against one another when a worldwide conflict occurs back on Earth. The other is “The Space Race,” a powerful documentary that profiles NASA’s pioneering pilots, scientists and engineers who served their country in space – even as that country failed to afford equality for them back on Earth. World-renowned Denver sculptor Ed Dwight, the very first Black astronaut, will be in attendance for a screening and conversation at 7 p.m. Nov. 9.

• A night at the Holiday: Meanwhile, “Ileana’s Smile” comes to the Holiday at 4 p.m. Nov. 4. Littleton High grad Brad Corrigan (aka Braddigan) of the folk-rock band Dispatch has directed this moving film about a girl who endures life in a trash-dump community in Managua, Nicaragua. The action follows Corrigan, a cab driver and a pastor who try to open up new healing paths for Ileana. Corrigan will be in the Holiday house to sing a song and call attention to his nonprofit Love Light + Melody, which is dedicated to battling the physical, emotional and spiritual effects of extreme poverty.

• Reboot: A special retrospective screening of seminal coming-of-age documentary “Hoop Dreams” will include a reading by slam poet and local actor Theo “Lucifury” Wilson and an appearance by former Denver Nuggets player Mark Randall, who will talk about the importance of sports and youth mentorship. Noon Nov. 5 at the Holiday.

• American Independent: “The Sweet East” is the directorial debut by Sean Price Williams, best known as a cinematographer for Alex Ross Perry and the Safdie brothers. The story follows Lillian, a high-school senior from South Carolina, as she embarks on a deranged and hilarious journey up the Eastern seaboard encountering oddballs all along the way. 6:45 p.m. Nov. 10 and 8:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at the AMC9.

• American Independent II: “Riddle of Fire” is kind of a weird and bizarre takeoff on “The Goonies” – set in Wyoming. The story follows three mischievous children who are kidnapped when their mother asks them to run out and find her favorite blueberry pie. Along the way, they battle a witch, outwit a huntsman, befriend a fairy – and become best friends forever. 8:45 p.m. Nov. 3 and 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at the AMC9.

• Spidey sense: For the first time, the Denver Film Festival will honor an entire team of filmmakers, writers and producers who collaborate to take the filmmaking form to new heights. The inaugural winners of the 5280 Award are the team from “Spider-Man: Across the Universe.” They will be honored before a special screening of the popular film at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the AMC 9.

• Comedy: “Molli and Max in the Future,” says Campbell, “is basically ‘When Harry Met Sally Gone to Space.’ The filmmakers combine cutting-edge sci-fi technology with old-school practical visual effects like hand-built models, miniatures, puppets and stop-motion animation in a wacky, multiverse setting. 9 p.m. Nov. 3 and 6:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at the AMC9.

• International: Singapore Director Anthony Chen actually has two new films in this year’s festival – “The Breaking Ice” (which premiered at the Cannes fest) and “Drift” (which premiered at Sundance.) That’s a first in DFF history, Campbell says. Chen will receive Denver Film’s Excellence in Directing Award at the Nov. 4 screening of ”The Breaking Ice.” That one is about an adrift young urbanite who bonds with a tour guide and her friend while confronting their traumas over a drunken weekend. 7 p.m. Nov. 3 or 4:45 p.m. Nov. 4 at the AMC9.

• If you like it dark: “Blaga’s Lessons,” Bulgaria’s official Oscars submission, “is super intense, dark and devastating,” Campbell said. It’s about a widowed teacher who falls prey to a phone scam and is robbed of her life savings. A Deadline review says the film “packs a punch not seen since Lars von Trier or Michael Haneke in their provocative primes.” 4:15 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Sie FilmCenter or 11:15 a.m. Nov. 12 at the AMC9.

• World documentary: “Four Daughters” is a unique film from Tunisia that follows a woman after two of her daughters are kidnapped by ISIS to become child brides. The filmmakers employ actors to play the absent two daughters in an attempt to understand the dynamics that led to the destruction of this family. 7:15 p.m. Nov. 7 or 4:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at the AMC9.

• U.S. documentary: “Richland” is a small-town story about a divided community in Washington state whose history is steeped in the morally problematic advent of the atomic bomb. “They’re known as another Los Alamos,” Campbell said. The filmmakers encounter nuclear workers, Indigenous tribes and the Japanese granddaughter of atomic-bomb survivors. “It’s very smart and beautifully shot.” 7 p.m. Nov. 6 or 4:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the AMC9.

• Musically themed: While “Cypher” looks and feels like a documentary, it won the grand-jury prize at the Tribeca Film Festival in the narrative competition. The film captures the weird and sinister side of fame by following touring rapper Tierra Whack, who is interviewed on camera along the way. “But weird things start happening that bleed into conspiracy theories and the occult and the Illuminati controlling the world through the vessels of pop and hip-hop stars,” Campbell said. “It’s a really edgy, fun, weird film – and Tierra Whack’s music is really awesome.” 9:45 p.m. Nov. 10 or 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at the AMC9.

• Spotlight on Ukraine: There is an “unofficial” programming focus on Ukraine this year, Campbell said. Two standouts are “Iron Butterflies,” a documentary about the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as a precursor to the current war; and “In the Rear View,” which simply shows what a cab’s locked dashboard camera picks up as volunteers try to rescue people from their villages and towns. “You’re listening to these people tell their stories first-hand, and it’s extremely eye-opening,” Campbell said. “Iron Butterflies”: 7:15 p.m. Nov. 8 or 4:15 p.m. Nov. 9 at the AMC9. “In the Rear View”: 4:45 p.m. Nov. 10 or 5 p.m. Nov. 12 at the AMC9.

• Animated: From Japan comes “The Boy and the Heron,” Hayao Miyazaki’s coming-of-age story of a boy who, yearning for his mother, ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. 7 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

• LGBTIQA+: Director Andrew Haigh will receive the CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Film Award prior to a screening of “All of Us Strangers” at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Denver Botanic Gardens. A man drawn back to his childhood home discovers his parents appear to be living just as they were on the day they died 30 years ago.

• Environment: “Songs of Earth” takes a very different approach than most environmental documentaries: “It’s really a love letter to the Earth,” said Campbell. Director Margreth Olin returns home to Norway to profile her parents’ loving relationship when her father leads her on a breathtaking journey through the country’s most scenic valley. “It’s just really remarkable, really beautiful, and it’s amazingly shot,” Campbell said of Norway’s Oscars submission. 4:30 p.m. Nov. 11 or 4:45 p.m. Nov. 12 at the AMC9.

Spotlight on Colorado:

• ”The Great Divide,” directed by Tom Donahue, is a painfully timely documentary that uses the backdrop of the Colorado State House’s efforts at passing Red Flag Laws to delve into the fuller history of violence in America from the slave trade to the Sand Creek Massacre. 7:15 p.m. Nov. 7 or 4:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Sie FilmCenter.

• “An Open Door”: This acclaimed documentary celebrates the influential life of Colorado State University Professor Dr. Temple Grandin, known both for her personal experience with autism and her groundbreaking work in livestock. 7 p.m. Nov. 7 (with Grandin present) and 4:30 p.m. Nov. 9, both at the Sie FilmCenter.

• “Summer of Violence”: Hair-splitters can nit-pick the data, but violent crime in metro Denver destroyed a lot of lives in 1993, just as it has in 2023 and every year in between. But the summer of ‘93 got a name. Director and screenwriter Nicki Micheaux looks back at the tragic events of that time, when the recent college grad turned down law school to pursue poetry while those close to her were dying from gang activity. Campbell calls the film “an intense, devastating narrative that uses the events of 1993 as its backdrop – but it’s really about this amazing woman.” 6:15 p.m. Nov. 11 and 2 p.m. Nov. 12 at the AMC9.

Colorado short films: A tiny sample

• Narative: Kristen Wolf’s “Sparkle” follows a a non-binary child who struggles to find the perfect Father’s Day gift for their disapproving dad. 6:15 p.m. Nov. 9 or 4:15 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Sie FilmCenter.

• Documentary: Nathan Ward and Summer Simpson’s “Come One Come All: A Circus With a Purpose” shows how a circus in Salida is about more than juggling knives, clowns, and walking the tightrope – it’s about changing lives. 7 p.m. Nov. 8 or 3:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Sie Film Center.