Denver Film Festival is for ‘Lovers’ this year | Arts & Entertainment

Denver Film Festival is for ‘Lovers’ this year | Arts & Entertainment







John Moore Column sig

At the upcoming Denver Film Festival, Colorado filmmakers will take audiences across the street and around the world: Skiing in remote mountain villages of Afghanistan. Documenting the rapid melting of glaciers in Iceland. Back to the poisoned grounds of Rocky Flats.

A robust 22 Colorado films have been selected for inclusion in the 47th Denver Film Festival, to be held Nov. 1-10 at venues across the metro area. The lineup includes five features, six documentary shorts, eight narrative shorts and two films from a PBS docuseries called “Renegades.”







Denver Film Festival 2024 Blind Sighted

2024 Denver Film Festival selection “Blind Sighted.”






One selection is “Blind Sighted,” a short documentary by 15-year-old Mitch Davila-Armendano, a student at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind who uses humor and honesty to introduce viewers to the daily obstacles and prejudice he and his classmates face in the world.

Another, Jeff Gipe’s “Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory,” chronicles the ever-evolving disaster at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility, where a staggering 70,000 atomic bombs were produced just west of Arvada, leaving behind dumped nuclear waste that contaminated the surrounding area.







Denver Film Festival Rocky Flats

Jeff Gipe’s “Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory,” chronicles the contamination of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility just west of Denver. 






And one title sure to catch the attention of both the film and indie-rock communities is “Lovers,” an all-Colorado film directed by Taylor McFadden. It’s the story of two women who return to their Denver hometown for the funeral of a friend who has taken his life. Though much of Old Denver has vanished in the years they’ve been away, one thing remains: Lovers. That’s the name of a local dive bar that audiences will instantly recognize as the hi-dive.







Taylor McFadden Denver Film Festival Lovers

Taylor McFadden, director of the Denver Film Festival selection “Lovers,” filmed entirely in Colorado.






“As the women reconnect with their old community, they face their shared loss and are reminded of the power of coming together through music,” said McFadden, who calls her film “a love letter to the Queen City of the Plains.”

And it features a new original song by none other than Colorado icon Nathaniel Rateliff. Which was easier to pull off than you might think. He’s both the film’s executive producer – and McFadden’s life partner.

“We have several original songs in the film from other incredible artists as well,” said McFadden. ”I’ve been in the music world since I was a teenager growing up in Colorado, so I wrote the musical performances and artists into the film from the deep relationships I have in the music industry – specifically geared toward female artists.” 

The lead actor in the film is Amelia Meath from the band Syvlan Esso, an electronic pop duo from Durham, N.C.

McFadden called it an honor to be able to premiere “Lovers” at the Denver Film Festival, “and to highlight the thriving community that helped support my vision for this story. My hope is to encourage more narrative filmmaking in the state of Colorado.”

Of the 2024 slate of local films, Denver Film Festival Programming Manager Ambriehl Turrentine said, “This is storytelling that covers a diverse spectrum of issues and personal stories ranging from climate change, environmentalism, our nation’s nuclear legacy and wartime experiences to stories of triumph, tragedy and perseverance across sports and outdoor activities, mental health and disability issues, sexuality and complex personal challenges.”

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Other selected Colorado films:







Denver Film Festival 2024 Chasing Time

A still from the 2024 Denver Film Festival selection, “Chasing Time.”






Documentaries

• “Chain Reactions,” directed by Denver’s Alexandre O. Philippe, follows the direct impact of the cult-classic film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” on five famous artists – horror author Stephen King, actor Patton Oswalt, filmmaker Karyn Kusama, Japanese director Takashi Miike and film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas – and how it shaped their art.

• “Champions Of The Golden Valley,” directed by Boulder’s Ben Sturgulewski, shows how villagers from rival ethnic groups in Afghanistan bond over a mutual passion for ski racing as their country collapses around them.

• “Chasing Time,” directed by Jeff Orlowski-Yang and Denver’s Sarah Keo, follows photographer James Balog as he returns to Iceland to complete “The Extreme Ice Survey Project” — which unveils astounding visual evidence of climate change and its impact over 15 years. Part of the film was shot in Boulder.

• “Porcelain War” is a documentary that follows three Ukrainian artists who find defiant inspiration and beauty while defending their culture and their country. These ordinary civilians choose to stay behind, armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time in their lives – their guns. Three producers from the film are Colorado-connected: Paula DuPre’ Pesmen, Olivia Ahnemann and Karl Kister.    

Also on the schedule

Selected short documentaries: “Mr. Cato,” directed by Boulder’s Ryan Ross; Lindsey Hagen’s “Fight or Flight” (about the first female pilot ever employed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife); Déwi Sungais’ “My Name is Not Amy;” Chase McCleary’s “Dear Ely;” and Freddie Gluck’s “Stone Dead.”

Narrative shorts: Devon Wycoff’s “The Seagull (But Like, Not Chekhov);” Ann Allsopp’s “Heartless;” Jack Cosgriff’s “Kino Kopf;” Kelly Sears’ “The Lost Season;” Allison Volk’s “The Storyteller;” Kristen Wolf’s “Parker and the Green Dress;” Michael Hyon Johnson’s “Black Metal;” and Bruce Tetsuya (selected for the fourth straight festival) with “Procession.”

SeriesFest inclusions

SeriesFest is an annual week-long festival where filmmakers from around the world come to Denver to promote and sell episodic TV projects for streaming. In support of that mission, Denver Film has slated special screenings of two episodes from the PBS docuseries “Renegades,” which showcases the lives and contributions of historical figures with disabilities.

The selections are “Daniel K. Inouye: Life of Service,” about the U.S. senator and war hero from Hawaii; and “Brad Lomax: Creating Communities Of Care,” about a pioneer in the early disability justice movement.

Read more about every film above at denverfilm.org.

The full 2024 Denver Film Festival program will be announced on Oct. 1.

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