Denver Mayor Mike Johnston kicked off the 17th annual Denver Arts Week on Friday with the story of his first time walking under the majestic arches of the Denver Performing Arts Complex. He was 13 and attending his first professional play on a class field trip.

The play was August Wilson’s “Fences,” the story of a star baseball player whose career was blunted by racism and he now supports his family as a sanitation worker. Johnston was changed for life.

“I was overwhelmed,” Johnson said outside the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the kickoff event for Denver Arts Week, which coincided with Friday’s opening of the 46th Denver Film Festival. “I got to stay and meet a couple of the actors, including Harvy Blanks, who played the leading role. Then I came back every time (the DCPA Theatre Company) did another August Wilson show.”

That is what inspired Johnston to go to Yale, where Wilson premiered seven of the 10 plays in his “American Century” cycle chronicling the Black experience. “And that inspired me to be a become a teacher, then a director – because I directed two August Wilson plays as a school principal.

“And that inspired me to come home to Colorado and open a school in Thornton where art was a core part of every content area for every kid. Art should not be just for those who can afford it. It should be part of how all of us experience the world.”

One of the things that makes a city great, Johnston said, is art. “This city is so vibrant because of the artists who have made their home here,” he said.

Denver Arts Week, presented by Visit Denver, will spotlight than 500 events across the city between Nov. 3-11. It opens on the first day of the Denver Film Festival and ends on the first day of Denver Fashion Week.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

The Denver Film Festival consolidated all of its red-carpet walks for the year into one big cardinal, crimson, burgundy blowout at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Friday night. About 80 creatives walked the walk.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY?

The biggest locally centered event of the festival takes place today when “Ileana’s Smile” comes to the MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater (2644 W. 32nd Ave.) for a 4 p.m. screening. Littleton High School grad Brad Corrigan (also known in music circles as 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.

WHAT’S MISSING?

Actors! The ongoing Screen Actors Guild strike means union members who are appearing in festival screenings cannot make public appearances promoting them until the impasse is solved. Instead, the festival is loaded with directors, producers, writers and other creatives.

SCREENING OF THE DAY

Singapore director Anthony Chen actually has two new films in this year’s festival – “The Breaking Ice” (which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival) and “Drift” (which premiered at Sundance.) That’s a first in DFF history. Chen will receive Denver Film’s Excellence in Directing Award at today’s screening of ”The Breaking Ice,” which is about an adrift young urbanite who bonds with a tour guide and her friend while confronting their traumas over a drunken weekend. 4:45 p.m. Saturday at the AMC9, 826 Albion St.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

The French cult film “She is Conann” is Bertrand Mandico‘s bizarre sci-fi reimagination of “Conan the Barbarian” where an underworld dog named Rainer travels through the abyss recounting Conann’s six different lives – from time spent as an enslaved person all the way to her accession to the doors of the current world. According to Collider: “It is not for the faint of heart or morally pious.” With English subtitles. 9:45 p.m. Saturday at the AMC9.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The growth in the Denver arts and cultural scene over the past 10 years has been absolutely incredible. we really are becoming one of the top arts cities in the entire country.” – Denver Film CEO Kevin Smith.

STAT OF THE DAY

This year, the Denver Film Festival is offering a record 16 films that have been submitted to the Academy Awards’ by their host nation for “Best Foreign Film” consideration. “That is more than any other regional film festival in the country,” Smith said.

TITLE OF THE DAY

“Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” 7:15 p.m. Saturday at the AMC9 or 4:15 p.m. Nov 8 at the Sie FilmCenter.

INFORMATION AND TICKETS

Go to denverfilm.org

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