Never underestimate the geography of a film festival.
Telluride and Sundance have their resort town main streets. Cannes has the Promenade de la Croisette with its view of the Mediterranean. Toronto upped the ante when it opened a towering central theater complex in 2010.
Where a festival unfolds has a way of shaping its identity.
For years the Starz Denver Film Festival — which opens Thursday at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House with “A Late Quartet” and runs through Nov. 11 — screened most of its offerings at the Starz FilmCenter on the Auraria campus. It did so even when the Denver Film Society found a new, much- improved home in 2010: the FilmCenter/Colfax in the Lowenstein cultureplex.
So, there was some trepidation headed into the 35th Starz Denver Film Festival. After all, 2011 was the final year the festival would use the 12-screen multiplex in the Tivoli brewing building.
For a festival that routinely programs more than 200 features and shorts, this was a hurdle. But there was a nagging question, more experiential than logistical: How much would the loss of the Tivoli multiplex fracture the festival-going experience? There was something about the slightly hermetically sealed venue that seemed to amplify the festivalgoer buzz.
Now what was a concern about lost identity looks like it will be trumped by a stroke of “back-to-the-future” genius. After all, when the festival started out, it made use of the city’s surprisingly robust arthouse scene when it screened at the Odgen, then a repertory moviehouse; the wee Vogue theater nestled in the South Pearl neighborhood; and the Flick at the corner of Larimer and 15th street.
Yes, gone are the tucked-away screens of the Tivoli. But in addition to the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax and its red-carpet venues, the film society will be showing movies, hosting panels and tributes at the nearby L2 Arts and Culture Center and, more vitally, five screens at the UA Denver Pavilions multiplex on the 16th Street Mall ( itself celebrating an anniversary).
“We’re super excited about the Pavilions,” says festival director Britta Erickson. “I don’t think we could have landed at a better place. To have a great presence on the 16th Street Mall, hopefully we’ll catch the eyeballs of some new folks who didn’t know we existed even as a festival let alone a film society.”
Far from scattering the energy of the festival, the 35th Starz Film Festival looks poised to be more integrated into the life of the city than it has been in years. Here are a few highlights. There will be more as the festival gets underway.
Red-carpet glamour and a couple of hidden gems
Opening night kicks off with the beautifully cast drama “A Late Quartet,” about a string ensemble that frays when its cellist learns he has Parkinson’s disease. It stars Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir, who will be in town to walk the red carpet. (Thursday, 8 p.m. Ellie Caulkins Opera House.)
Actor Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, “Quartet,” is this year’s Big Night offering. Acting pros Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay join real-life musical vets in a story about aging musicians who continue to find grace notes in a retirement home. (Saturday, 8 p.m. Buell Theatre)
Festival honchos couldn’t locate another film with the word “quartet” in it, so they settled for “Silver Linings Playbook,” for closing night. Director David O. Russell’s buzzed-about romantic dramedy stars Bradley Cooper as Pat Solatano, a guy from Philly who returns home (well, to his parents’ home) after a stint in a mental institution. Jennifer Lawrence portrays the unusual woman who may just throw a wrench into Pat’s plans to reunite with his estranged wife. Robert DeNiro and fab Aussie Jacki Weaver (so chilling in “Animal Kingdom”) play his folks. The movie generated an Oscar hum when it won the Toronto International Film Festival’s Audience Award in September. (Nov. 10, 8 p.m. Ellie Caulkins Opera House)
Chris Sullivan’s 10-years-in-the-making animated feature “Consuming Spirits” has become a consuming passion of festival artist director Brit Withey. “I’m always amazed at the courageousness it takes for someone to work on a singular piece of art,” says Withey. “And I love his use of multiple animation techniques to tell this epic, gothic tale.” (Saturday, 7 p.m. ; Nov. 4, 1:45 p.m. Nov. 5, 1:45 p.m. All screenings at Denver Film Center).
“Yes, I do indeed love director Sally Potter.” Such was my epiphany at a Telluride Film Festival screening of “Ginger and Rosa.” The maker of the wondrous “Orlando”and the shattering, post 9/11 romantic drama makes uncompromising, poetic — dare we say feminist? — dramas. Here she midwifes an incandescent turn from Elle Fanning as 17-year-old Ginger, who along with best friend Rosa (Alice Englert) are coming of age during the hottest period of the Cold War and arms race. (Friday, 9:30 p.m. at Pavilions)
A few on the guest list:
Consider him “a triple-threat” says fest director Erickson of actor, director, producer Vince Vaughn. This year’s John Cassavetes Award honoree arrives to town wearing his producer cap for the documentary “Art of Conflict” that explores “the Troubles” in Ireland through the street murals that documentary the violent history of Northern Ireland. Vaughn also provided the voice-over for this compelling film, directed by Valeri Vaughn, his sister. (Nov. 10, 2:15 L2 Arts and Culture Center)
Tippi Hedren will receive the Mayor’s Award for Career Achievement Award at a tribute on Nov. 9 (4 p.m. at L2 Arts and Culture Center) Famously the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and “Marni,” Hedren’s relationship with her obsessed director is the focus of the current HBO drama “The Girl.” In addition to “The Birds,” two recent films featuring Hedren will screen during the fest: Billy Bob Thornton’s “Jayne Mansfield’s Car” (Nov . 9, 7 p.m. at L2 Arts and Culture Center) and Jay Gammill’s debut feature “Free Samples.” (Nov. 8, 7 p.m. at L2 Arts and Culture Center).
Cinema greats Paolo and Vittorio Taviani will receive the Maria & Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award for their body of work and their most recent feature, “Caesar Must Die.” The film about maximum-security inmates performing “Julius Caesar” is a stunner, not least because the beautifully edited film isn’t fiction but a documentary. (Second screening: Nov. 10, 7:45 p.m. at Denver FilmCenter/Colfax).
Screenwriter-director-playwright Neil LaBute can’t be accused of making it easy for his characters or audiences. But his drama has a biting vigor and a muted viciousness that is hard to shake off. Film critic Robert Denerstein sits with LaBute and screens four short works by the maker of “Your Friends and Neighbors,” “The Shape of Things” and his film debut, “In the Company of Men,” which was the break-out movie for 2010’s Excellence in Acting honoree Aaron Eckhart. (Nov. 10, 4:15 p.m. at L2 Arts and Culture Center)
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bylisakennedy
“35TH STARZ DENVER FILM FESTIVAL.” Eleven days of movies, panels, parties, tributes starting Thursday with opening night’s screening of “A Late Quartet,” Thursday, 8 p.m. at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Other red-carpet events: Big Night screening of “Quartet,” Saturday at the Buell Theatre, 8 p.m., and “Silver Linings Playbook,” Nov. 10, 8 p.m. at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Through Nov. 11. Venues include: the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and the Buell Theatre (14th & Curtis) ; the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax, 2510 E. Colfax Ave.; the L2 Arts and Culture Center, 1477 Columbine St.; the UA Denver Pavilions, 500 16th St. Ticket packages available. Single tickets $8-$20 for non red-carpet events via denverfilm.org or 303-820-FILM
