Like know-it-all movie fans demanding satisfaction at a crowded theater on a Saturday night, local buffs tend to shout “Focus!” at the long-playing Starz Denver International Film Festival.
What razor-sharp image do we want our hometown fest to project to the world?
Do we desire a star-studded Oscar predictor like last year’s unprecedented show, featuring Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Bacon and a premiere of “Ray”?
Perhaps a sophisticated showcase for brilliant and obscure foreign films, like this year’s spotlight on Japanese creations?
Or maybe an industry buzz-fest, for money or awards, like the buyer’s market at Sundance or the pre-Oscar unveilings of Toronto?
Ready to open its 28th festival Thursday, the Denver Film Society has answers to any of those heated questions from patrons and critics. But society leaders also want this noted for the record: Selling a lot of tickets answers many queries at once.
And that’s the trump the festival can play this year, in response to disappointment at the headliners for the 11-day program.
No premiere as full of feel-good passion as “Ray”? How about record opening-day ticket sales?
No Hollywood star onstage as charismatic as Foxx? Society members bought twice as many festival tickets this fall.
No Morgan Freeman to tell stories to a rapt crowd? Director Ang Lee and writers Annie Proulx and Larry McMurtry have picked up the slack, their promised appearances helping “Brokeback Mountain” become the fastest-selling “red carpet” feature ever.
“Last year, despite a splashy festival, we did not see a huge increase in ticket sales,” said Ron Henderson, society artistic director and festival founder.
The festival did change its focus this year in a key area – dates. Long an October anchor for top regional festivals, Denver decided last winter to move back a month to a mid-November start. Henderson and others believed the change would separate Denver from a crowded October calendar of worldwide festivals, and perhaps bring even more years of Foxx-Freeman-“Ray”-Bacon excitement.
The stars did not align quite that way. Landing big names with U.S. premiers of major films is as tough as ever. But raising public expectations has “happened a lot” over 28 years, Henderson said. “It’s a cyclical thing. Some years are just packed.”
The year after Denver landed Sean Penn and Shirley MacLaine, the hottest feature was the obscure “Lantana,” with few names anyone knew, Henderson said.
Ticket sales are what keep the lights on, and this year’s seat inventory is way up thanks to the move of big events to the new Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The festival will also have more showings at Auraria’s King Center, a bigger venue than the daily workhorse theaters at Starz FilmCenter at Tivoli.
If star power is an unreliable energy source, what does Denver use to sell itself to the world?
“On paper, we look like a lot of other top-tier regionals, until you come to visit us once, and hear the reputation among filmmakers,” said Britta Erickson, the festival’s marketing director. Denver prides itself on a “crack” hospitality team that makes directors of even the most obscure indie films feel like movie royalty. Directors from little chairs or big respond to intimate audiences who ask informed questions, in venues designed for give-and-take.
Industry statistics show Denver-area residents going out for movies more often than nearly any other major city. That affinity for the full feature was reflected in last year’s ticket sales, Erickson noted. Despite the big draws of Freeman and Bacon, their events sold slowly because the stars were not bringing feature films with them. Both were hosted at “clips” programs, career highlights that film society members didn’t rush to attend.
This year’s three showcase events each involve full movies, and the response was immediate, society leaders said. Opening-night Thursday brings “The World’s Fastest Indian,” an artistically mediocre but potentially crowd-pleasing tale pegged to the dramatics of Anthony Hopkins.
Nov. 19 brings Lasse Hallström’s “Casanova,” and festival organizers at press time still hoped to land star Heath Ledger for an appearance. Ledger is also the co-star of the Saturday night finale, “Brokeback Mountain,” though that evening is planned around an onstage writing discussion with Lee, Proulx, McMurtry and screenwriter Diana Ossana.
Hoping for a little more buzz despite their distrust of star power, organizers also carved a “mystery” screening of an unnamed major film for Nov. 13. Playing coy, Henderson and Erickson narrowed it down: A world premier screening of a major picture, opening at Thanksgiving, with a special cast performance after the movie. That would seem to point only to the Broadway adaptation “Rent,” another potential crowd-pleaser.
Other regional American cities market festivals with easier tag lines than Denver’s.
Indianapolis has won industry press in recent years for hosting premiers of feel-good movies with uplifting themes, such as Dakota Fanning’s “Dreamer.”
Insisting on a schedule of about 200 movies diffuses Denver’s focus, by definition. But it doesn’t lessen the impact for the splinter groups who end up well-served, Erickson noted.
There happen to be a few high-profile Polish films in this year’s schedule, including a 25th-anniversary celebration of the Solidarity movement by 13 directors. It was the first sellout, followed quickly by another Polish film, evidence of a “surprisingly strong ethnic community here,” she said.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
