DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 3

Colorado took a toe-dip into the deep waters of competitive filmmaking in 2024, when Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill that guarantees $5 million in annual refundable tax credits to filmmakers through at least 2029. For the first time, Colorado now has a sustainable, predictable production incentive written into the state budget.

Make no mistake: It is but a toe-dip. Consider that, also in 2024, Georgia issued more than $1.2 billion in tax credits to film companies. Five million clearly does not make Colorado a major player. But it did get us back in the game.

Some have criticized tax incentives as giveaways to Hollywood big-shots, but the numbers say something very different. Consider that those benefiting filmmakers spent $2.6 billion in Georgia in 2024 – and $11 billion over a three-year period. Supporting studios, like those specializing in CGI and motion-capture, sprang up in response. College enrollments have risen. Atlanta now has more square feet of sound-stage space than the city of Los Angeles. Jobs everywhere.  

The 2025 Denver Film Festival launched in earnest on Saturday with a conversation at the Tattered Cover Book Store on how states compete for productions, why incentives matter, and why they are an investment – not a handout.

“This is a stronger sustainable pathway than we’ve had previously,” said Arielle Brachfeld, Colorado’s interim Film Commissioner.

State Rep. (and co-sponsor) Leslie Herod says there is an 18-to-1 return on investment for every dollar that is spent on film incentives in Colorado. The bill, which she co-sponsored, requires any qualifying visiting production company to spend at least $100,000 in Colorado. That benefits hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses.

There also is a 50% local-hire requirement. “That means we can put more Coloradans to work,” Brachfeld said.

Coloradans who can then buy cars and other stuff.

“Just in the past two years, 38 projects have been approved, and approximately 1,200 jobs have been supported by these incentives,” Brachfeld said.

The program is open to more than just narrative filmmakers. It’s also available to those making documentaries, music videos, commercials, video games and more. The point is to encourage any creative production that supports economic activity in Colorado.

Brachfeld calls the program both a huge step forward and a stepping stone into the future.
“We have so many exciting things going on in Colorado,” she said. “We’re really on this cutting edge of development and of national and international awareness.

“We’re at the beginning stages, but man, oh man, what a wave we are riding right now. I mean, we have state support in a way that we didn’t have previously.

“Colorado,” she said, “may actually be ready to meet the moment.”

Denver will never be another Atlanta. It’s not as ethnically diverse, the weather is not as agreeable (at least not year-round), and it will never have the same budgetary support from the state legislature. Large Hollywood blockbusters are still going to be shot overseas because of lower labor costs.
But Peter Stathopoulos, an entertainment CPA who flew in from Atlanta for the panel to expound on the Georgia experience, says Colorado has a few things going for it from a national POV – much of it stemming from the coming relocation of the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder in 2027.

That makes Colorado now home to Telluride, Denver, Sundance and dozens of other niche film festivals – not to mention SeriesFest, which is essentially a film festival for episodic TV.

“We may be in the running for Film Festival Capital of the World,” Brachfeld said.

Stathopoulos sees what he calls “this nucleus of creatives” congealing in Colorado, “and I really think there’s an opportunity to capture what I would call middle-budget productions. I think that is a real possibility for Colorado film.”

Several of those very mid-sized films are among the first to benefit from the state’s incentive program. Examples include the Anthony Mackie thriller “Elevation,” which played at the 2024 Denver Film Festival, and the upcoming all-Colorado family story “The Man Who Changed the World.”

Stathopoulos said Georgia film officials are most often asked how it makes any sense that Georgia, a state with a $33 billion budget, can justify giving away $1.2 billion to a diversionary industry like filmmaking. The answer, he said, is mind-numbingly simple.

“It brought in more than we gave away,” he said.

WHO IS OUR NEW COMMISH?

Arielle Brachfeld seems like a smart, savvy and enthusiastic champion of the Colorado film industry. But a big old cloud of confusion still hangs unnecessarily over her surprise promotion from deputy to interim film commissioner in September.

Without any official notice, Brachfeld’s new job title was added to the Colorado Film website, erasing without fanfare longtime Colorado Film Commissioner Donald Zuckerman, who is himself a larger-than-life character worthy of his own film.

Zuckerman was known for always picking up the phone, especially if the conversation had anything to do with championing Colorado Film or the incentives state program he was instrumental in negotiating. He’s also credited with playing a significant role in attracting Sundance. He’s not the kind of guy to be disappeared, Vince Gilligan-style. But here we are.

No one is talking, and the ongoing not talking has cast a pall of uncertainty over this year’s Denver Film Festival. Everyone wants to know: Was he fired? Was it a salary burn? Did something happen? No one knows because no one is talking. And the very fact that no one is talking all but eliminates any possibility that he simply retired. If he had, he would be taking a victory lap right now.

Naturally, I asked Brachfeld about it. Naturally, she responded: “I can’t speak to personnel matters.” Which is 100% true, appropriate – and does nothing to ease the Colorado film community’s frustration with not being talked to about the disappearance of the state’s highest-ranking official in their field.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

Today’s highlights include the presentation of the CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Award to Niecy Nash-Betts, as well as the Stan Brakhage Vision Award to iconic avant-garde filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh.

Nash-Betts, who made you laugh on “Reno 911” and won an Emmy Award for “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” will talk with radio personality Nikki Swarn at 1 p.m. at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The LaBahn Award is presented annually to an artist from the LGBTQIA+ community whose work has made a lasting cultural impact. 

The Brakhage Award, named after the legendary filmmaker and CU film professor, is presented annually to an avant-garde film artist whose work embodies courage, boldness and vision. Ahwesh will take part in a conversation moderated by filmmaker and CU Boulder Professor Erin Espelie at 6:25 p.m. at the Sie FilmCenter.

SCREENING OF THE DAY

The new movie “Nuremberg” is generating some Oscar buzz for the performances of Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring and Rami Malek as American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley. At history’s most consequential trial, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) leads the Allies in prosecuting Nazi leaders for the horrors of the Holocaust, while Kelley engages in a dangerous psychological duel with Göring. It’s based on Jack El-Hai’s book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist.” 11 a.m. today (Nov. 2) at the Holiday Theater.

DISCOUNT TICKETS

Adventurous moviegoers looking for a bargain will find them for the first time at this year’s fest. Each day, the fest will identify up to five films or events that can be had for $5 when purchased in person at any box office. Box offices open 30 minutes before the first showtime of the day.

Sunday’s $5 films or events:

• Niecy Nash-Betts in Conversation, 1 p.m. at Denver Botanic Gardens

• “Rose of Nevada,” 2:30 p.m. at the Sie (Britain)

• “Train Dreams,” 2:45 p.m. at the Holiday Theater (U.S.)

• ”Comparsa,” 6 p.m. at the Holiday Theater (Spain)

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The Denver Film Festival is never just about the films. It’s also about the shared experience. These films and this festival allow us to come together to laugh, to cry, to question and to reflect. To talk about the tough stuff, to celebrate the joyful stuff and to see the world from someone else’s perspective. That’s the power of film, and that’s why our audiences are the most important part of this entire experience.” – Denver Film CEO Kevin Smith

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 OF OUR DENVER FILM FESTIVAL COVERAGE:

• 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.’

• Daily Dispatch from the Denver Film Festival: Oct. 31

• Daily Dispatch from the Denver Film Festival: Nov. 1

• Donald Zuckerman out as Colorado Film Commissioner

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