Clear Your Calendar for 38th Denver Film Festival November 4-15

Get those vacation requests in and start putting red X’s on your calendar, film fans: The Denver Film Society has announced the dates for the 38th Denver Film Festival. (Starz Entertainment’s title sponsorship contractually ended last year.) The twelve-day fest will unfold November 4 through November 15; the Sie FilmCenter,…

Photos: Cosplay on Parade at Nan Desu Kan 2015

The local anime and fantasy convention Nan Desu Kan moved to downtown Denver in 2015, bringing some of the region’s most stunning cosplayers along to strut their stuff onstage and on the 16th Street Mall. Danielle Lirette brought back these images of the con’s ongoing costume show. Now see the…

Another 100 Colorado Creatives: Kent Thompson

#12: Kent Thompson In his ten years of working magic as director of the Denver Center Theatre Company, Kent Thompson, who came here after years with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, has seen — and exacted — change in how the DCTC and regional theater in general present work both immediately…

Gemma Arterton Takes the Road to Rouen in Gemma Bovery

A romance about wanting to see a romance, a comic tragedy about an onlooker willing something tragic, Anne Fontaine’s Flaubert-inspired meta-pleasure Gemma Bovery takes as its subject the act of watching the lives around us — and of wishing those lives were literature. Or films: Here’s a French film thick…

In Grandma, Lily Tomlin Has the Heart of a Righteous Crank

Young people are the only ones who ever talk about growing old gracefully. For those actually in the thick of it, the romance of that notion burns off pretty quickly, and wrinkles and creaky joints are the least of it: Growing old, gracefully or otherwise, means becoming the person you…

Photos: Lakeside Neon and Cheap Thrills at Summer Scream

The Denver Film Society’s Reel Social Club hosted its annual adults-only Summer Scream benefit at Lakeside, setting a flock of big kids loose on the amusement park’s retro rides, from the fabulous Wild Chipmunk to the ever-popular Auto Skooters. Photographer Ken Hamblin joined in the fun with camera in tow…

Gallery Sketches: Three New Shows in Denver for September 4-6

First Friday kicks off the holiday weekend with new exhibits big and small, including Jokes of Nature, an ambitious group show showcasing the art of the grotesque at RedLine, and Denver culture jammer Peter Miles Bergman’s retrospective at Dateline. And then there are these one-of-a-kind gems, lighting up arts districts…

Ten Great Colorado Hot Springs

Any time of the year is great time to visit one of Colorado’s many mountain hot springs destinations, but with fall right around the corner, a dip in a warmer pool is definitely on our minds. There are many different kinds of springs, from full-size, human-made pools warmed by earthy…

Gallery Preview: Jokes of Nature, Opening September 4 at RedLine

The art of the grotesque has staying power, as RedLine development director Geoffrey Shamos, a scholar of Renaissance art from northern Europe, and local contemporary artist Donald Fodness, who has an affinity for the style in modern times, will both tell you. In the present, the genre in all its…

Three Wes Craven Films That Changed My Life

Earlier this week, horror legend Wes Craven died at age 76. I know I wasn’t alone in really feeling this one; horror movies are a big part of who I am, and there aren’t many horror filmmakers of his caliber. For that reason, it was obvious from the moment I…

Ten Ways to Fix Denver’s Biennial of the Americas

Denver’s third Biennial of the Americas wrapped up its run last weekend as most of the official exhibits closed. Over the past few months, artists, innovators and experts had been charged with exploring the theme of “Now.” But the overall experience left many locals underwhelmed, as have the two previous…

Playbill: Three New Plays in Denver September 4-6

Theater is back on track, with many fall season offerings debuting on Labor Day Weekend. From Aurora’s Vintage Theatre to Lakewood’s acclaimed Edge Theater and the Bug in Denver, the pickings are suddenly looking good. Any Given Monday Vintage Theatre  Friday, September 4 through October 25 7:30 p.m. Fridays and…