In less than a month, the Denver Film Festival (DFF) will take over three locations in the city for its 42nd season. As film lovers wait in anticipation for the full packet of programming to be released, the Denver Film Society announced the Red Carpet and special presentations first this morning. Typically, the Red Carpet presentations generate a lot of excitement, as they often turn into Oscar-winning films.
The 12-day festival will commence on Wednesday, October 30 with a tribute to Brit Withey, the former festival artistic director and film industry leader who passed away this year unexpectedly. It is a somber subject to start the event with, but Withey was well respected and will be especially missed in the local film community during this time of year.
On Thursday, October 31, the screenings will kick off with a Red Carpet presentation of Knives Out at Ellie Caulkins Opera House at 7 p.m. Although the cast is star-studded, including Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis and Toni Collette, the DFF hasn’t given any clues as to who will be walking the red carpet into the screening. Ever since Emma Stone walked into La La Land in 2016, the red carpet outside Ellie Caulkins has felt a little lackluster.
The next Red Carpet screening Waves will take place on Thursday, November 7 at 7 p.m. at Ellie Caulkins. Starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell and Lucas Hedges, Waves follows a suburban African-American family who must navigate many things in life, including a sometimes controlling father. Brian Tallerico, a critic with Roger Ebert said of Waves, “A deeper and more profound film than your average character drama, a masterpiece that’s hard to walk away from without checking your own grievances and grief.”
On Saturday, November 9, the festival will conclude its Red Carpet screenings with The Two Popes as the 2 p.m. matinee and Marriage Story as the final presentation at 7 p.m. Two Popes is the latest film from Fernando Meirelles and stars the legendary Anthony Hopkins, as well as Jonathan Pryce. Marriage Story features a co-starring performance by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson and will close the festival out. At the time this article was written, this movie holds a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, with almost universal commendation by critics, hinting that it might be director Noah Baumbach’s best film yet.
The rest of the film announcements, which will include more than a week of movie screenings, is expected to release later today.
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For more information and to buy passes and tickets, go here.