The Best Films and Obscure Picks at the Denver Film Festival

The 47th Denver Film Festival runs through November 10, with local cinema nonprofit Denver Film bringing ten days of films from around the world to venue locations from Colorado Boulevard to Highland. If you've never been before, you'll find it's a large festival (115 features and 188 total films) where you can find everything from crowd-pleasing favorites to experimental masterpieces, obscure gems, a variety of shorts programs and beyond.

There are, as always, some changes (the most significant this year is that there's no longer a full printed guide), but the basics remain the same: It's the biggest and most exciting film event of the year in the Mile High City. For 2024, the festival's website is an essential tool for navigating the days; head there to check out its helpful "How-to-Fest" guide, snazzy new merch and full schedule.

In conversation with festival artistic director Matt Campbell, we've compiled a list of picks for each day — an entry point to the massive pile of cinematic treasures and many noteworthy guests on tap for this year. Below is a day-by-day list of top picks for the Denver Film Festival: 
Dragon Dilatation
Directed by Bertrand Mandico
9:30 p.m. Friday, November 1, Sie FilmCenter Clasen Theater
10:15 p.m. Saturday, November 2, Sie FilmCenter Fries Theater
Few things put that "pep in your step" at the beginning of the Denver Film Festival like catching something really weird.

Dragon Dilatation, from returning DFF favorite Bertrand Mandico (After Blue, She Is Conann) is the definition of an art-house acid trip. It mashes together two separate films — one a retelling of Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka, the other a version of The Divine Comedy — and then splashes them with violence, eroticism, characters from previous Mandico films and surrealist jokes. If that wasn't strange enough, the whole thing is in split-screen.

Unsurprisingly, it's "super weird and trippy," attests Campbell, who has long been the fest's late-night specialist. "I liked his previous things, but this one is above and beyond. It's my favorite of his. It definitely goes way more full-throttle. It's just bat-shit crazy creativity."

Day one has become busier over time. The opening-night film (this year, Malcolm Washington's sold-out The Piano Lesson at the Holiday Theater) used to stand alone, but recent years have seen a full slate of features programmed throughout the day to complement it. If the big show at the classic Highland venue does still pique your interest, now is the perfect time to review those standby procedures. If not, there are nine other fantastic films to choose from playing at Denver Film's flagship venue, the Sie FilmCenter.

Other Picks: Memoir of a Snail, Chainsaws Were Singing Separated
Directed by Errol Morris
12:45 p.m. Saturday, November 2, AMC House 1
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 5, AMC House 1
Separated, from Academy Award-winning documentarian legend Errol Morris (The Fog of War, Thin Blue Line), is a standout from the festival's biggest day, and one of its most timely. "It is a very politically charged year with the election, so we definitely have a few that speak to that," Campbell confirms.

Separated dives deep into the Trump administration's policy of targeting (and attempting to dissuade) migrants crossing the southern border by removing children from their parents. Among other effects, this strategy creates what are described as "child prisons," leaving hundreds of children adrift in the system, a situation which continues to the present day. Adapted by journalist Jacob Soboroff from his 2020 book, the film joins several others on Saturday (Homegrown, Zurawski v Texas) that also wrangle with the "Trumpworld" years — even as the possibility of their return clouds our horizon.

Topical docs are just one flavor from the second day's packed schedule. The festival also begins its run at the AMC 9+10 on Colorado Boulevard (from Saturday, November 2, through Thursday, November 7) and welcomes one of its most anticipated guests, Patricia Clarkson, this year's John Cassavetes Award honoree, to the MCA's Holiday Theater for a screening of her film, Lilly.

Other picks: Gloria, Steppenwolf, Vulcanizadora,
The Fire Inside
Directed by Rachel Morrison
2 p.m. Sunday, November 3, AMC 9
Rachel Morrison's uplifting The Fire Inside is a dramatic retelling of the rise of real-life female boxer and champion athlete Claressa "T-Rex" Shields. Shields rose from a hardscrabble background in Flint, Michigan, to become an Olympic Gold Medalist, as well as one of a handful of boxers — male or female — who have held all four of the sport's major world titles.

Like its subject, who is considered to be perhaps the most talented female boxer of all time, The Fire Inside is a power-house contender. Written by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, The Underground Railroad), it is also Morrison's feature directing debut after an acclaimed career as a cinematographer (Dope, Mudbound, Black Panther). Additionally, the film's lead, Ryan Destiny (who, like Shields, happens to be a native Michigander), has been making waves as both an actor and a singer-songwriter. Destiny will be at Sunday's screening to receive the festival's Rising Star Award and participate in a post-film conversation.

Other picks: Secret Mall Apartment, Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, My Sunshine
The Knife
Directed by Nnamdi Asomugha
7 p.m. Monday, November 4, Sie FilmCenter Maglione Theater
The Knife is a "really tight thriller," Campbell attests. Director, co-writer, producer and star Nnamdi Asomugha plays Chris, a father with a young family. As the film opens, Chris is "remodeling their house, and they're all going to bed one night, and this random woman [is an intruder in their home]...and he's like: 'What's going on?'"

The unnerving situation builds to a head with an incident that the film doesn't entirely reveal, instead leading the audience into a tense puzzle as the police arrive to question Chris and his family. "It's definitely social commentary about being Black in America, and interactions with the police and the very precarious nature of that," says Campbell.

Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, to Nigerian parents, Asoumugha was an NFL cornerback with the L.A. Raiders, the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers before becoming an actor and producer. His accolades include Independent Spirit Award and NAACP Image Award nominations for his performance as Carl King in 2017's Crown Heights. The Knife is his directorial debut, and won him DFF's Breakthrough Directing Award, which he will be in person to receive.

Other picks: Mistress Dispeller, Better Man
All the King's Men
Directed by Robert Rossen
6:15 p.m. Tuesday, November 5, Sie FilmCenter Maglione Theater
All the King's Men is one of three great repertory titles in the fest this year (Gloria and Young Frankenstein are the others). Based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, it was an awards season juggernaut in 1950, winning three Oscars, including Best Picture, five Golden Globes and a nomination for the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion.

The political thriller follows the rise of populist demagogue Willie Stark, played by Broderick Crawford in an Oscar-winning performance, who starts out as an idealistic small-town lawyer and ends up a corrupt, power-mad governor and near-dictator. Fueled by great performances and craftsmanship (the writing and editing were both nominated by the Academy), its timeless theme of idealism subverted by power couldn't be more appropriate for an election year — or more chilling.

Other picks: Black Dog, Dead Talents Society, Daughter of Genghis
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Directed by Johan Grimonprez
6:15 p.m. Wednesday, November 6, AMC House 1
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat is a documentary being described as intertwining "jazz and decolonization," perfect for a year in which the limits and consequences of American foreign policy are being as hotly debated as ever (and with the film's Congo setting very much a part of those contemporary discussions).

Using archival footage, music and memoirs, it recalls an early ’60s incident, largely forgotten, in which the CIA attempted to overturn the newly democratic Republic of Congo, in part by employing famous American musicians, such as Louis Armstrong, as a PR smokescreen. In telling the story, Grimonprez creates a unique blend of facts, tunes and filmmaking techniques both traditional and experimental.

"It's very much a historical documentary, but it's not traditional in that it does have this jazz rhythm to it," explains Campbell. "It's a very in-depth historical look, but it has this jazz influence, where the editing and the pacing itself becomes avant-garde and experimental, because of the rhythm of jazz that it's mimicking, within the structure of the film itself."

Saturday Night
Directed by Jason Reitman
6:45 p.m. Thursday, November 7, the Holiday Theater
Saturday Night, 2024's critically acclaimed retelling of the first broadcast of what would become Saturday Night Live, is this year's recipient of the Denver Film Festival's 5280 Award. Campbell explains that the award was created to honor films "that we really love and we want to celebrate [along with] the collaborative filmmaking team."

It's hard to imagine a film this year more deserving of that recognition than Saturday Night, which employs a big, funny, talented cast to channel an entirely different big, funny, talented cast. True to that spirit, the festival is bringing several key members of the film's team to the screening for a conversation, including writer/director Jason Reitman, cinematographer Eric Steelburg, co-writer Gil Keenan and cast members Gabriel LaBelle (who portrays Lorne Michaels) and Cory Michael Smith (who plays Chevy Chase).

Other picks: Who Do I Belong To, The Hyperboreans
The Order
Directed by Justin Kurzel
7 p.m. Friday, November 8, Ellie Caulkins Opera House
When discussing Justin Kurzel's true-crime film The Order, Campbell doesn't mince words: "It is a hard-hittin' thriller."

As such, it has plenty of blasting hardware — and star wattage — as leads Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan and Jurnee Smollet race through the ’80s-set account of an FBI agent (Law) who traces a series of armed robberies to a fanatical neo-Nazi organization, the Order, which is bent on revolution and led by the charismatic Bob Mathews (Hoult).

The story also has ample Denver connections. City Councilman Kevin Flynn co-wrote the book (The Silent Brotherhood) that the film is based on, but long before that, he was a reporter assigned to get to the bottom of a high-profile Mile High City slaying. That killing, of outspoken Denver radio host Alan Berg, was eventually linked to the Order.

Forty years after the gripping real-life events depicted in the film, Flynn will join a festival audience to watch them translated to the big screen, returning post-film for a conversation with The Order's executive producer, Kate Susman.

Other Picks: Half-Life of Memory: America's Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory, Caught by the Tides
Hard Truths
Directed by Mike Leigh
1 p.m. Saturday, November 9, Denver Botanic Gardens
Hard Truths represents a reunion for director Leigh and performers Marianne Jean Baptiste and Michele Austin, who last collaborated on Leigh's 1996 masterpiece Secrets and Lies. Hard Truths is already being compared to the previous film for the power and honesty of its direction and performances, especially that of Jean-Baptiste as the caustic Pansy.

"We're very excited to have Marianne Jean-Baptiste come to receive our Excellence in Acting Award," Campbell says, as well as "very excited that Vanity Fair's Little Gold Men Podcast will be having a live interview discussion with her following the film, after the award's presentation. That will be a very big to-do." The wide-ranging and prestigious podcast, which seeks the "inside story of Hollywood" behind the awards and red carpets, will be recorded live at the screening with hosts Richard Lawson and Rebecca Ford.

Other Picks: Sister Midnight, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Didi
Directed by Sean Wang
1:15 p.m. Sunday, November 10, Sie FilmCenter Fries Theater
Didi is a coming-of-age story focused on a thirteen-year-old Taiwanese American boy named Chris and his attempts to learn "how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom" during his last summer vacation before high school. The film is also being praised for its intensely personal narrative (penned by director Sean Wang) and as a career highlight for legendary actress Joan Chen as Chris's mother, Chungsing.

Chen became a star in China in the late 1970s while still a teenager. Within a few years, she was an international presence, working with the likes of Wayne Wang, Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch and Ang Lee. "She's had a really storied career," Campbell says. "She's an amazing actor, and she gives an amazing performance in Didi," he says, noting that Chen "won the equivalent of China's Best Actor Oscar when she was in her teens." In other words, Chen is an ideal luminary to close down the 47th Denver Film Festival on Sunday, as she accepts its Career Achievement Award.

Other picks: Young Frankenstein

Tickets for the Denver Film Festival can be found at denverfilm.org.