The Denver Film Festival consolidated all of its red-carpet walks for the year into one big burgundy blowout in front of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Friday night. About 20 creatives walked the walk, including a few dapper reps from the underage set.

Perhaps most adorable red-carpeters were the ebullient creative team from “Cue Card Girl,” which placed in this year’s “Colorado Documentary Shorts” lineup. This 24-minute piece has a story as charming as its subject: 75-year old Eileen O’Brien, a longtime Coloradan who, yes, worked as a cue-card “girl” on “Saturday Night Live” during the show’s 1980s glory days.

The film, three years in the making, has been crafted by co-directors Aiden Nelson and Violet Dempsey, who were 15 and 12 when they started their project through Denver Film’s Young Filmmakers Project – where O’Brien worked.

“They came to me and said, ‘We want to do a film about you,’ and I went, ‘Oh, no, you don’t,’” O’Brien said with a laugh. “They thought it would be six months.”

“I was so wrong on that!” Nelson said.

Dempsey is still just 17 and a senior at Shining Mountain Waldorf High School in Boulder. And she has loved every loving minute working on the project.

“I think our beautiful subject, Eileen, just makes it so special,” she said. “I mean, she is honestly a shining light, not only in the film industry, but also as a human being.”

“Cue Card Girl” plays with other local short documentaries at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 and at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave.

Also from the red carpet: For the second straight year, Colorado’s Bruce Tetsuya has landed a film in the festival’s “Colorado Narrative Shorts” lineup. Walking with him was young Cadence Presley, who is a featured actor in Tetsuya’s “There is Light in Us,” a 12-minute film that screens with other local efforts at 6:15 p.m. Nov. 9 and at 4:15 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Sie FilmCenter. It’s about a man who returns to his childhood home and is struck by visions about the mysterious disappearance of his mother.

SCREENING OF THE DAY

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 at the MCA Denver at the Holiday, 2644 W. 32nd Ave.

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING TODAY?

A screening of the short documentary film “Walking Each Other Home” will be followed by a panel conversation with Caz Matthews, who works to identify and financially support independent filmmakers. This documentary shows the plight of both captive elephants in Laos and those in the wild, advocating for the preservation of this endangered species. 11 a.m. at the Sie FilmCenter.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

The past collides with the precarious present in filmmaker Steve McQueen’s documentary “Occupied City,” an excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. The film traverses from World War II to recent years of pandemic and protest that turns out to be a life-affirming reflection on memory, time and, perhaps, what’s to come. 1:45 p.m. at the AMC9, 825 Albion St. Fair warning: It’s 262 minutes!

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Director Weston Razooli, on his film “Riddle of Fire,” which has been described as “’The Goonies’ set in Wyoming: “I call it a neo fairytale. That’s kind of our umbrella term.” Actor Rachel Browne: I would say that Zuli – that’s we call (Razooli) – has a vision of his own, and he contributed just his own source of magic to this movie. He is actually a wizard. It’s true.” Andrea Browne: “There’s no one else like him. If you have ever seen the musical ‘Wicked,’ he’s beyond that wizard.”

TITLE OF THE DAY

“The Delinquents,” a heist move from Buenos Aires. 6:45 p.m. at the AMC9, 825 Albion St.

INFORMATION AND TICKETS

Go to denverfilm.org

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