DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 1

The 10 best days of the year for local movie fans are here. Friday is opening night of the 48th Denver Film Festival, which will begin with dueling cross-town, Halloween-happy screenings.

The last time opening night fell on Halloween was in 2019, when the buzz was all about the man, not so much the film. The man was Rian Johnson, who went to Dry Creek Elementary in Highlands Ranch, appeared in the fourth-grade production of “Oklahoma!” and grew up to write and direct “Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi” in 2017.

Now, he was coming home to introduce the world to what seemed a curious side project perhaps best fit for the film-festival circuit: It was “Knives Out,” a throwback to the long-dormant whodunit genre that peaked in the mid-1980s with films like “Clue.”

Johnson wanted to put a fresh spin on the genre for a modern audience, he said at the time.

If you were at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House that night, you had no idea yet, A) whodunit, and B) what was about to happen when the film was released four weeks later.

Johnson’s $40 million film made $313 million in global box office.

I guess there was life in the whodunit after all.

Six years later, to the date, the Denver Film Festival again opens on Halloween, and again with a new installment of the “Knives Out” series (the third): “Wake Up Dead Man.”

The red carpet starts at 6 (Halloween costumes encouraged), with the film at 7. But, alas, we now know there will be no surprise return appearance by the hometown director. Still, Friday’s Denver audience will again get a month’s head-start on everyone else. (“Knives Out” won’t be released to the world until Nov. 26, and won’t hit streamers until Dec. 12.)

That’s really the unique charm of the Denver Film Festival – getting to see some big-buzz, end-of-the-year releases four to eight weeks before everyone else. (Think “American Fiction.”)  

Meanwhile, those seeking a more visceral horror film for Halloween night will be drawn to the Sie Film Center for a 9:15 p.m. screening of “Primate.” It’s about a group of friends whose pool party turns into a fight for survival when a pet chimpanzee (Ben!) becomes rabid. Its release date is Jan. 9.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

Opening Day is mostly just to get the engine warmed up, with 14 screenings scheduled at three locations.

SCREENING OF THE DAY

Denver Film is uncharacteristically spreading out its Opening Night audience tonight by scheduling two centerpiece screenings – one of them of great interest to Colorado audiences – and directly opposite “Knives Out.”

Max Walker-Silverman’s “Rebuilding” is the story of a cowboy who drifts into a FEMA trailer park after a devastating wildfire near Durango and reconnects with his daughter, ex-wife and others who also lost everything. 7 p.m. at the 400-seat Holiday Theatre, across the street from Denver North High School.

THE FIRST FILM 

So, yes, the festival “opens” tonight’s big red-carpet ride at the Ellie Caulkins, but it kicks off hours before with a 12:30 p.m. screening of ”God Will Not Help” at the Sie Film Center. It’s a multinational epic performed in Croatian and Spanish. The time is the dawn of the 20th century. The story follows a Chilean widow who arrives unannounced at her late husband’s family homestead in the mountains of rural Croatia.

I AM MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO …

… A greater understanding of the news I read every day. Toward that end, I can’t wait for “Palestine 36,” a narrative feature set in 1936, when the people of Palestine ignited the longest anti-colonial uprising in British Empire history. The film, shot across Palestine and Jordan under extraordinary political pressure, is described as “both an intimate portrait of a society on the edge, and a work forged in the fires of past and present struggle.” 3:45p.m. today (Friday) and 3:30 p.m. Nov 7, both at the Sie FilmCenter.

VENUE CHANGES

One more reminder that the festival will not be back after three years at the AMC 9+10 cineplex (826 Albion St.) after the movie chain tried to triple Denver Film’s rate. But the fest is back to having high-profile opening and closing-night screenings at the Ellie: The aforementioned “Knives Out” on opening night, and the new Netflix documentary “Elway” on closing night (Nov. 8). 

The festival’s base camp has long been the Sie Film Center (2510 E. Colfax Ave.), but for capacity alone, the Holiday Theatre (2644 W. 32nd Ave.) is quickly becoming the fest’s new nerve center – at least in terms of centerpiece screenings and most celebrity appearances. 

The Holiday is a refurbished movie palace (and more recently, church) tucked into the neighborhood directly across from North High School. (Pro tip: Park for free in the high-school parking lot. It’s just a few steps west of the Holiday.)

Most festivalgoers will be managing multiple cross-town treks between the Holiday and the Sie. That’s 4.6 miles, and about a 20-minute drive in normal traffic. The Denver Film website helpfully lists the run time of every film, but then you have to build in extra time for pre-show announcements and post-screening panels. Plan your titles accordingly!

LOW-TICKET ALERTS

With the loss of the AMC as a venue, the 2025 festival will offer “only” 136 films, down from 185. That means many more films will be at or near capacity than usual. You can’t (safely) do what I did for 10 years and just pretty much show up somewhere and expect to get in. 

This year, the fest is issuing real-time sellout and low-ticket alerts.

Among those that are already sold out: “Hamnet,” “Left-Handed Girl,” “Is This Thing On?” “Sentimental Value” and “No Other Choice.” They are off the board.  

Among those “almost sold out” are: “Jay Kelly” (the George Clooney film), “Nouvelle Vague” (with Zoey Deutch in person); “Dead Man’s Wire” (with Gus Van Sant in person), “Rental Family” (the Brendan Fraser film) and “Christy” (with Ben Foster in person).

PARTY ANIMALS

I haven’t been invited to a party in 30 years (ask me why), but people much more fun than I will be gathering from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at something called The Kirk of Highland, 3011 Vallejo St., for the festival’s annual opening-night blowout. It promises to be “an immersive experience with live music, entertainment and mystical Halloween magic,” we are told. You may be asked to dress as your favorite movie character (and perhaps to relinquish your soul).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The Denver Film Festival has always been a home for discovery — of new voices, bold visions and powerful performances. This year’s program celebrates that spirit with films that are daring, deeply emotional and profoundly human.” – Denver Film Festival Artistic Director Matthew Campbell

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Go to denverfilm.org

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

More on the Denver Film Festival:

• Our interview with Delroy Lindo

• Here are five films you don’t want to miss

• Look who’s coming to Denver 

• Spotlight on Colorado films like ‘Creede U.S.A.’