Netflix doc on Broncos great will close fest; Lucy Liu, Gus Van Sant and Delroy Lindo among Denver-bound honorees

Film or football, no matter: John Elway takes second billing to no one.

That means you, Lucy Liu, Gus Van Sant and Delroy Lindo – just a few of the bold-faced names coming to Denver to be honored at the 48th Denver Film Festival, running Halloween night through Nov. 9 at venues across the metro area.

This is Broncos country, so the name that naturally shot to the top of today’s programming announcement from Denver Film was Elway’s. Why? Because the festival will close with a world-premiere screening of “Elway,” an upcoming Netflix documentary on the quarterback whose real-life NFL swan song was a Hollywood scriptwriter’s dream.

You can’t make this up: After 14 largely frustrating seasons, Elway led the Broncos to their first Super Bowl win in 1998, upending the heavily favored Packers. Rather than riding off into the sunset with nothing left to prove, Elway doubled down on his newfound legacy by coming back for a 16th season, brazenly winning a second world championship and cementing his place as one of the great QBs in NFL history.

The doc chronicles Elway’s early collegiate career at Stanford through his years with the Broncos. Elway is coming to the festival screening, joined by co-directors Ken Rodgers and Chris Weaver on Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Netflix has not even announced a drop date for the doc, so you could be seeing it well before the rest of the country.

When it comes to the Denver Film Festival, no one can possibly see much more than, say, a dozen films. But audiences’ choices will be significantly slimmer this year, with 136 films to choose from, down from 185. That’s a dramatic drop of 26.5% – and fully attributable to the previously reported end of the Denver Film Festival’s three-year association with the AMC 9+10 cinema near Rose Hospital.

That leaves the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Botanic Gardens, MCA at the Holiday Theater and the Sie FilmCenter as this year’s festival screening venues.

“These are all fantastic festival sites that allow us to do everything we want to do from a programming standpoint, and helps us minimize any reduction in the total number of screenings across the 10 days of our festival.” the org said in a collective statement issued to the Denver Gazette in August.
The reduced screen availability surely meant tougher programming decisions for festival Artistic Director Matthew Campbell – and, in turn, made for better (if harder) choices for audiences. And inevitably, greater competition for available seats.

Opening night

“Knives Out” was the opening night film for the 2019 Denver Film Festival, giving local audiences a head start on what would soon turn into a global franchise. Six years later, the fest will again open with a Halloween red-carpet showing of “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.

This is Colorado-raised writer and director Rian Johnson’s third “Knives” installment featuring detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), this time chasing a star-studded ensemble including Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner and Kerry Washington. No word yet on whether Johnson will attend.

Across town, the fest will “co-open” with a Halloween-appropriate screening of “Primate,” a new horror film directed and co-written by Johannes Roberts and starring Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander and the en fuego Troy Kotsur (“Black Rabbit”).

Another centerpiece screening will be “Is This Thing On?” on Nov. 3 at the MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater. It’s directed by Bradley Cooper and features Cooper alongside Will Arnett and Laura Dern.

Who’s coming to Denver?

Lucy Liu (“Charlie’s Angels”) will receive the John Cassavetes Award at a screening of Rosemead on Nov. 8 at the MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater. Gus Van Sant (“Good Will Hunting”) will receive the Excellence in Directing Award at a screening of “Dead Man’s Wire” on Nov. 4 at the MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater. And Niecy Nash-Betts (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) will receive the fourth CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Award for contributions to the LGBTQIA+ community.

But old-school Denver theatergoers will likely be most excited to welcome Delroy Lindo (“Malcolm X”) back to town. Lindo will receive Denver Film’s Next50 Career Achievement Award on Nov. 1 following a special screening of “Sinners” at the Sie FilmCenter.

Lindo was a member of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s inaugural, 40-strong resident acting company back in the inaugural 1979-80 season. He performed in several plays alongside Tyne Daly, Tandy Cronyn and many others.

What to do?

Every Denver Film festival is jam-packed with screenings, red carpets, panels, awards and parties. There will be feature-length films, documentaries, episodic television and shorts. To deep-dive into all of your choices, go to denverfilm.org for an A-Z film guide.

With the exception of special screenings like “Sinners,” Denver Film is known for only showing feature films that have not yet been released. That makes its place on the calendar near the end of the year something of a blessing and a curse.

The blessing is that most of the year’s Oscar contenders don’t get released until the end of December, just in time for Oscar nominations. That means Denver Film gets to cherry-pick the very best films that have emerged at other festivals throughout the year (that, again, have not yet been released).

That means Denver Film has come to be known as a primo opportunity for Denver-area festivalgoers to get sneak peeks at presently unknown but soon-to-be-nominated films like  “Knives Out,” “Belfast,” “Diana,” “American Fiction” and “The Whale.” This year is no different. 

To help you zero in on some of the higher-profile opportunities coming your way, here are a few titles that most definitely will be in the conversation come Oscars nomination time:

• ”Jay Kelly,” a Noah Baumbach-directed dramedy with George Clooney as a movie star reflecting on his life choices and Adam Sandler as his manager

• ”Hamnet,” directed by Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao and featuring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in a story about the real-life tragedy that influenced William Shakespeare’s greatest work.

• ”The Testament of Ann Lee,” award-winning writer-director Mona Fastvold’s (“The Brutalist”) speculative retelling of the extraordinary story of Ann Lee, founder of the religious sect known as the Shakers.

• ”Rental Family,”  a crowd-pleaser featuring Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) as an actor who stumbles into an unusual job playing stand-in roles for strangers in a foreign country

• ”Christy,” with Sydney Sweeney in a career-making performance as boxer Christy Martin.

• ”Nuremberg,” starring Rami Malek and Russell Crowe in a psychological drama about one of the most important trials of the 20th century.

• ”Man on the Run,” Morgan Neville’s documentary on the Denver-bound Paul McCartney (playing in concert Oct. 11 at Coors Field).

A taste of Colorado

In 25 years of covering Colorado theater community, nothing has provided greater storytelling opportunities than the Creede Repertory Theatre, the economic and artistic engine of tiny Creede Colorado, nestled 250 miles southwest of Denver in the San Juan mountains. Director Kahane Corn Cooperman is the latest to discover Creede, and her “Creede U.S.A.” documentary love letter will be a hot ticket at the festival.

“We’ve curated a lineup that reflects both the diversity and strength of contemporary storytelling with a remarkable selection of films, storylines and performances,” Campbell said in a statement. “These eclectic and thought-provoking films ask urgent questions about our past, present and future, alongside deeply personal stories of resilience and triumph.

“The Denver Film Festival is an opportunity to come together in a communal experience and discover both big-name titles and hidden gems that shine just as brightly.”

John Moore is the Denver Gazette’s Senior Arts Journalist. Email him at john.moore@denvergazette.com

2025 DENVER FILM FESTIVAL

• When: Oct. 31-Nov. 9

• What: Feature-length films, documentaries and shorts, as well as music videos, episodic television, panel conversations, parties and more

• Where: Sie FilmCenter (2510 E. Colfax Ave.); Ellie Caulkins Opera House (Denver Performing Arts Complex), Denver Botanic Gardens (1007 York St.), MCA Denver at the Holiday (2644 W. 32nd Ave., Denver Museum of Nature and Science Infinity Theatre (2001 Colorado Blvd.)

• Tickets and complete festival lineup: denverfilm.org