Last night two of the area’s finer film festivals opened. Today, the Denver Jewish Film Festival and the Boulder International Film Festival plunge into the heart of their offerings.
Whether you’re headed to Boulder or to Glendale’s Mizel Arts & Culture Center, you’ll find films worth the trip.
Playing at the Boulder International Film Festival (through Feb. 14):
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.”Rick Goldsmith and Judith Ehrlich’s documentary about one of the nation’s best-known whistleblowers is a nominee for the best documentary feature Oscar. For good reason. Visually elegant and rife with compelling interviews and historical footage, the film examines the complex relationship of the personal and the political. It also reminds us why a free and robust press is so vital. (Sunday, 10 a.m., Boulder Theater) “Waking Sleeping Beauty”:You don’t have to be an animator to be sucked into Don Hahn’s documentary about the pained and triumphant history of Disney’s most vaunted division, feature animation. The title comes from a comment Jeffrey Katzenberg made to his animators when he, Michael Eisner and Frank Wells arrived in the mid-1980s for one of the greatest studio shakeups in history. The movie’s personable, snark and all take. One of the guys behind the camera on the home-movie-style footage is none other than John Lasseter, now chief honch at Pixar. (Today, 7 p.m., The Church)
“Soundtrack for a Revolution”: An intelligent and moving examination of the music that gave solace and courage to the freedom fighters of the civil rights movement. Bill Guttentag and Don Struman intercut black-and-white footage of tragedy and triumph with contemporary artists — John Legend, the Roots, Joss Stone among them — performing some of the most rousing songs. The finale rendition of “We Shall Overcome” may shame those of us grown weary of the empowerment anthem. “Soundtrack for a Revolution” aids us in not just seeing but hearing anew one of the nation’s greatest stories. (Today, 9:15 p.m., The Church)
General admission $8-$10. For schedule information, call 303-449-2289 or 2283 or go to . Box office: Boulder Theater or 303-786-7030
Playing at the Denver Jewish Film Festival (though Feb. 20):
“Where I Stand: The Hank Greenspun Story”:In his uniform, Herman Greenspun was a strapping young man with an easy smile. In Scott Goldstein’s documentary it’s abundantly clear that he wasn’t lacking in confidence. Witness wife Barbara’s recollection of his bold marriage proposal. He saw her at an Irish wedding, approached her and gave her 48 hours to think about marrying him. The son of a Talmudic scholar, Greenspun has a story that reads like a Hollywood script treatment: a mobster flack for Bugsy Siegel turned gun runner for Israel’s Haganah fighters turned Las Vegas Sun publisher and firebrand turned hopeful Middle East peacemaker. Goldstein wisely includes snippets of Greenspun’s “Where I Stand” columns. His words — plainspoken beauts, the lot of ’em — even more than the reminiscences of his peers and employees convince us he was a newspaperman with a gut for justice. (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.)
“Camera Obscura”: Gertrudis was born on the gangway of a ship disgorging Russian Jews in an Argentinian port in the late 1800s. Her mother never forgave her “ugly” daughter’s early arrival. When the widower Kohen marries Gertrudis, he hopes she’ll make an attentive wife and a thoughtful mother. She does. He also believes Gertrudis won’t command the attentions of the town’s menfolk the way his lovely first wife did. It takes an itinerant photographer to recognize Gertrudis’ gifts. Argentinian director Maria Victoria Menis delivers a quiet tale of hidden yet abundant beauty. (Moday, 7:30 p.m.)
“Zrubavel”: Some of the most moving pictures at the Denver Jewish Film Festival have engaged the stories of Ethiopian Jews in Israel. First was the amazing feature “Live and Become,” about a boy airlifted to Israel. Last year, brothers Tomer and Barak Heymann’s “Black Over White” followed the mixed Jewish-Ethiopian band the Idan Raichel Project as members returned to Ethiopia for a concert. Now comes director Shmuel Beru’s powerful immigrant tale set in Israel’s Ethiopian Jewish community. (Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m.)
General admission for all films, excluding closing nights, $8.50-$9.50. For information, call 303-316-6360 or go to .
