Tag: Denver Film Festival
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From decrepit to opulent: How 20 years of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House has elevated Denver
Celebrating two decades since downtown finally got a worthy home for opera, ballet, concerts and more People forget what life was like before the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. When opera fans had to head down to the basement to find a bathroom. Talk about bottoming out. “People don’t remember that there were more seats in…
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2025 films: A look back at 12 hidden gems
The Oscars don’t happen till March, making now a great time to go back and check out the best overlooked films of last year, starting with ‘The Penguin Lessons’ Any list of “Best Films of 2025” must be qualified by the essential words “that I’ve seen.” No two moviegoers’ pool of candidates is the same.…
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Netflix documentary introduces a whole new John Elway to Denver
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ALSO: LUCY LIU RECEIVES FESTIVAL’S HIGHEST HONOR DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 11 Editor’s note: The Netflix documentary “Elway”, which was released Monday. The Denver Gazette’s Senior Arts Journalist John Moore reviewed the documentary back in early November. Here are his thoughts about the film about the “Duke of Denver.“ Well, hello, John…
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Netflix documentary introduces a whole new John Elway to Denver
ALSO: LUCY LIU RECEIVES FESTIVAL’S HIGHEST HONOR DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 11 Editor’s note: The Netflix documentary “Elway”, which was released Monday. The Denver Gazette’s Senior Arts Journalist John Moore reviewed the documentary back in early November. Here are his thoughts about the film about the “Duke of Denver.“ Well, hello, John…
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Spanish celebration of late-life love captures Denver Film Festival audiences’ hearts – and votes
‘Cover-Up,’ about investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, named best documentary With a particularly strong field of new narrative films to consider, Denver Film Festival audiences pulled off a bit of an upset in choosing “Calle Malaga” as the best of the 2025 fest. The title of the Spanish-language film, which counts Morocco, France, Spain, Germany and…
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David Ansen on the death of film criticism
ALSO: ALL BUT ONE SCREENING FOR TODAY’S FINAL DAY IS SOLD OUT DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 10 People used to say, “Everyone is a critic!” as a, well – criticism. The irony is, in 2025, everyone really is a critic. Anyone with an opinion and a blog or a TikTok account with followers…
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Two minute warning: It’s John Elway’s night at the Denver Film Festival
ALSO: COLORADO FILMMAKERS HAVE THEIR SCREEN MOMENTS DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 9 Dec. 11, 1983. The day The Duke of Denver was born. John Elway had been benched for much of his sporadic rookie season. But on this day, he engineered his first fourth-quarter comeback against the team he had refused to…
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Ben Foster crowned heavyweight outlaw champion of Denver
DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 8 Ben Foster says the reports are true: Boxing champion Christy Martin, perhaps the most badass woman on the planet, avoided the actor who played her husband throughout the filming of the new movie about her life, “Christy.” Which speaks both to the extensiveness of the abuse she…
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Gus Van Sant brings ‘Dead Man’s Wire’ back home to Denver
DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 7 Denver both rightfully and a bit speciously claims many film stars for having spent at least slivers of their childhoods here. We talk a lot about itinerant Coloradans Amy Adams, Don Cheadle, Keri Russell, Tim Allen, Hattie McDaniel and Billie Eilish’s mom, among others. Just the other…
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Sisters spread their wings through the joy of art in the ashes of Guatemalan tragedy
DISPATCH FROM THE DENVER FILM FESTIVAL • DAY 6 There were only three words to describe the atmosphere at MCA Denver’s Holiday Theatre on Monday afternoon: Joy. Ebullience. Gratitude. Astonishing, given the road young sisters Lupe and Lesli Perez have taken from the rugged outskirts of Guatemala City to the Denver Film Festival, which just welcomed…