The improvements at the nonprofit Sie FilmCenter, an independent, three-screen movie house at 2510 E. Colfax Ave. include new screens, Christie 4K laser projectors, upgraded sound systems, and new “premium seating” in the center’s Clasen Screening Room, according to a statement.

The improvements arrive as several venues in Boulder are busy upgrading their own technology to handle the Sundance Film Festival. It’s set to debut there in January 2027, following a move from its longtime home in Park City, Utah, and will bring tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors and global cultural prestige to the city.

Sundance officials haven’t said where they might hold satellite screenings outside of Boulder, but many attendees are expected to stay in Denver, so The Sie FilmCenter has the potential to host overflow or post-fest screenings.

Denver Film CEO Kevin Smith said the upgrades were done in anticipation of Denver Film’s 50th anniversary in 2027 — and to ensure the Sie remains “the best theatrical movie-going experience in the state.”

“We continue to work closely with the Sundance team and will be partnering on several projects — some of those announcements will begin to roll out in the weeks ahead — but that is not one of them at this time,” Smith said in an email to The Denver Post.

Sundance requires its theaters and venues to have 2K or 4K screening capability, 5.1 Surround Sound, and various software details in place before a film can appear there, on Sundance’s website. The Sie FilmCenter already had that, and Denver Film has in the past partnered with the Sundance Institute, which produces the Sundance Film Festival, and its Sundance Lab to of new, independent titles.

The newly installed Christie 4K laser projectors at the Sie will display ultra-high resolution (4096 x 2160) with added brightness and color accuracy, and high frame rates of up to 120 frames per second. Those will “(eliminate) motion blur … ensuring stunning clarity for both 2D and 3D presentations,” officials said.

The Clasen Screening Room also now includes premium seating with overstuffed chairs, better sightlines, and a more intimate experience for guests, filmmaker conversations, and community events.

“Denver Film is about so much more than movies,” major donor Liane Clasen said in a statement. “It’s also about fostering community by bringing people together socially in a welcoming place for screenings, conversation, festivals and fun.”

The improvements were paid for by several longtime supporters, according to Denver Film, which owns and operates the building. They include Liane and Robert Clasen, the Sie family and its foundation (the theater’s namesake), and Mike Fries, the CEO of Liberty Global.

The Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media also contributed money, as did its umbrella organization, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Denver Film officials said.

But there are plenty of other film festivals in Colorado, from Oscar-bait showcases and mini-fests to touring, niche and genre-specific events that appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, the LGBTQ community, and horror fans — sometimes all at once.

So if you can only see one Colorado film festival this year, what should it be?

Here are some ideas, with a focus on independent features and documentaries. Most events have opening- or closing-night parties, filmmaker panels, VIP passes and other programming, although not all have schedules, tickets on sale or firm dates yet.

Durango Independent Film Festival

March 4-8: There’s still time to check out this 21st annual event along the Animas River in southwest Colorado, which runs through Sunday, March 8, with screenings that span adventure, music, animation, nature, comedy, shorts, documentaries, Indigenous cinema, narrative features and kid-friendly titles. More details at .

No Man’s Land Film Festival

March 7 in Denver: Expect roughly 25 titles at this 11th annual event that “un-defines” feminine by exploring and creating dialogue around the brilliance and influence of women filmmakers, particularly in the outdoors- and adventure-film categories. “From intimate portraits of resilience to explorations of identity, climate, and adventure — these films showcase the bold creativity of women, genderqueer, and Indigenous storytellers,” organizers wrote. Also expect several U.S. and world premieres.

Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival

March 20-22 in Denver: The namesake of this Denver Film-produced event gathers colorful boats at Sloans Lake each year for races and partying. This festival offshoot is another wildly entertaining chance to introduce audiences to the diverse, underappreciated world of Asian and Asian American films. The Dragon Boat Race returns Aug. 29-30, but you can start building your schedule for the March film fest now..

Aspen Shortsfest

April 7-11 in Aspen and Carbondale: Think of this competitive, Oscar-qualifying gathering as a Telluride or Sundance just for shorts, where featured and award-winning titles annually get nominated for (and often win) the biggest awards in the industry. This year, the Oscars recognized a pair of 2025 Shortsfest titles (“Jane Austen’s Period Drama” and “Retirement Plan”) as nominees for Best Live Action Short and Best Animated Short (respectively), and you can bet the 2027 Oscars will feature a few from this year’s 35th annual event in Aspen and Carbondale.

Boulder International Film Festival

April 9-12: Founded in 2004 by sisters Kathy and Robin Beeck, this four-day event has been the city’s marquee film festival. But it’s already making room for Sundance, having pushed back this year’s 22nd anniversary event from its usual February/March dates to early April, in anticipation of Sundance’s January 2027 debut. Sundance does not, however, have the CineChef food program (this year celebrating Badass Women Chefs), established Colorado youth screenings and competitions, or tens of thousands of already-loyal, annual Front Range ticket-buyers. Details, tickets and schedule are available at .

ACT Human Rights Film Festival

April 9-12 in Fort Collins: This 11th annual, globally minded festival held at Colorado State University investigates the highs and lows of human dignity, violence and progress in a tightly curated set of always-relevant titles. What to make of the alarming global conflicts now proliferating? The ethics of citizenship? The crackdown of governments on their own people? They’ve got ideas. The schedule should post in the next week or two at .

Castle Rock Film Festival

April 9-12: Joining an already-crowded weekend for film festivals is the fourth annual Castle Rock Film Festival, a nonprofit event that benefits the Castle Rock Artist Alliance (CRAA), specifically its Veterans and First Responders Art Therapy program. Awards, student competitions, and more are in store. Check soon for the schedule.

Grand Mesa Short Film Festival

April 10-11 in Cedaredge: Most film events have their own shorts program, but there are precious few in Colorado that focus only on shorts (see Aspen Shortsfest, above). Now in its fifth year, the Grand Mesa Short Film Festival includes documentary, animation, drama, comedy, and action/adventure stories, along with a kid-appropriate matinee and a spotlight on young filmmakers.

Denver Silent Film Festival

April 10-12: It’s really saying something that this Denver event brings silent films to life in the most visceral, magnetic way, with rare and restored movies that predate the era of talking actors and in-film soundtracks. It’s your only chance to see these in Colorado on the big screen, with live music to boot, and it all takes place at the Sie FilmCenter. How much easier could it be?

5Point Film Flagship Festival

April 21-26 in Carbondale: Not long after Shortsfest is the 19th annual 5Point Film Festival in Carbondale, the flagship of a state-touring event that focuses on “humility, purposes, balance, commitment, respect” and other big-picture ideals while presenting screenings that tackle outdoor adventure and conservation. Sounds very Colorado, no?

Women+Film Festival

April 24-26 in Denver: This small but important festival complements fall’s Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival with more than a dozen features, shorts and documentaries “celebrating female filmmakers behind the camera and stories of women on the screen,” as producer Denver Film said online.

SeriesFest

May 6-10 in Denver: Technically a TV and streaming festival, SeriesFest has grown over its 12 years into one of the most important showcases of non-film and episodic work — much of it ending up on networks and major streaming services just a few weeks or months later. Amid the glitz and industry confabs are fun panels and parties (see the annual Red Rocks concert) that keep it top-of-mind for regular audiences, from true-crime and documentary fans to traditional sitcoms, animated series, pilots and social media experiments.

Telluride Mountainfilm

CinemaQ

May 29-31 in Denver: Denver’s only LGBTQ film festival takes place at the Sie FilmCenter with screenings, panels, discussions and events that highlight “queer voices, vision & visibility with the year’s best films,” according to producer Denver Film. The three-day event’s schedule and tickets will be online April 27.

Ouray International Film Festival

June 18-21: Shorts and features are on tap for this festival not far from Telluride, which caters to filmmakers and audiences with an unpretentious slate of adrenaline-pumping titles. It’s got awards and quasi-celebrity guests, but the real attraction is the mountain scenery and the vibe of progressive, open-minded creativity.

Telluride Film Festival

Aug. 29-Sept. 1: This fest is unapologetically elite and exclusive as it annually debuts up to 30 prestige films and other titles, all surrounded by the world’s biggest directors, stars and critics. It’s not industry; it’s influence and buzz-making and a celebration of movie geekery. And it’s highly unlikely to be affected by Sundance’s Boulder debut, given its wealthy, self-contained audience and setting.

Telluride Horror Show

Oct. 16-18: High and low art are artificial distinctions at this genre celebration, which defines itself not by Telluride’s ski-resort setting but by its passionate fans and expert curation of new and classic horror titles. The 17th iteration this year will include destination-worthy parties and gatherings, along with “an exciting mix of horror, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy & sci-fi and dark comedy in Telluride’s unique theaters, with most of the films having one of their first U.S. showings,” according to its website. Check back this fall for the lineup and tickets.

Aspen Filmfest

September: Marking 47 years, Aspen Film’s feature-length event (they also host Shortsfest) retains its modest footprint from last year, hewing close to the Aspen Isis Theatre. Dates (usually in mid-to-late September) and a schedule have not yet been finalized.

Winter Park Film Festival

Sept. 10-13: If you don’t think of Winter Park as synonymous with film, you’re not alone. But the competitive event in Grand County draws diverse filmmakers, families and film buffs with screenings and special events, including titles that highlight young people, disabled people, action-adventure seekers, and students.

Breck Film Festival

Sept. 17-20 in Breckenridge. With more than 100 films on tap annually, Breck Film Festival has already set its dates for 2026, and there’s sure to be more local and national filmmakers in attendance — 2025’s event included the Colorado-set film “Rebuilding,” starring Josh O’Connor (which was actually shot in Colorado).

Crested Butte Film Festival

Late September: This 16-year-old festival has a surprisingly robust schedule, presenting around 80 films spread across five days that allow attendees and filmmakers to stretch out in every way. Passes and a schedule are not yet available, but check in the fall for more.

Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival

Oct. 16-18 in Colorado Springs: The 39th festival returns to Colorado College in Colorado Springs with an international celebration of women filmmakers. This year, the event will have in-person screenings at Colorado College followed by a virtual encore. The full schedule will be available later this year at .

Denver Film Festival

Oct. 22-Nov. 1: The biggest film festival in Colorado may not hold that title much longer, given Sundance’s looming arrival, but it will be fascinating to see how this jam-packed, affordable, multi-venue event plays with Sundance in both programming and audiences. Expect the typically impressive schedule of screenings, parties, panels, themed packages and awards to again be spread across the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Botanic Gardens, MCA at the Holiday Theater and other locales.

Go West Film Festival

Nov. 9-14 in Greeley: Not many film events rustle up Western themes these days, even in Colorado, but Go West honors that tradition with titles that confront what it means to live in the West — the good, the bad and the unexpected. “We ride the range of cinema history, from the early years to feature films and documentaries about the modern West,” organizers wrote online. Giddy up!

Ridgway Independent Film Festival

Nov. 13-15: The otherworldly San Juan Mountains play host to this event, which is marking its 12th year of showcasing indie films and filmmakers. Programs often feature fun options such as skygazing trips (it’s really, really dark there at night), an art show and lots of in-person meet-ups alongside the many screenings. Several events are free, too.

Vail Film Festival

Dec. 3-6: This late-season, competitive event is still taking submissions on its website, so a public lineup hasn’t even begun to take shape. But producers already revealed they’ll include a dedicated French Showcase this year, as part of their partnership with the ÉCU-Paris Film Festival (The European Independent Film Festival).

“My dad loved this place and its people,” she said of her father, Robert Redford, and the state where, for more than 40 years, the Sundance Institute — with its series of labs for emerging filmmakers — and the festival have shaped the film industry, and to some extent American culture.

Related: Boulder City Council approves $17.3 million incentives package for Sundance

Robert Redford died last September at 89, and his absence, as well as his vision, permeated this installment of the first festival without the Sundance Kid turned Elder Statesman. It����ap hard to decide if it was fitting or a poetic injustice that Redford will not be following the festival to Colorado, a state he knew well, where Sundance will move in January 2027.

Colorado, though, is a state he knew well. Redford had, at one time, wanted to start his film festival in Colorado before heading to Utah. “Even though Bob Redford enjoyed a successful acting and directing career, he was never just content to rest on those laurels. He believed that with space to create and experiment, independent artists were poised to have a tremendous impact,” Ebs Burnough, chair of the board of trustees, told a roomful of film writers and journalists.

“And of course, he was right. To this day, artists who get their start at the Sundance Institute and at the film festival go on to shape storytelling, independent cinema, and our collective culture. And that has never mattered more than it does in this moment, when we need the empathy and inspiration and new perspectives independent storytelling provides,” he added.

Place is a funny thing. The wilderness of Utah, coupled with the intimacy of the ski town, served and shaped the festival well for decades — and vice versa. Now it moves to a new location at the foot of the Flatirons and adjacent to the Rockies. Boulder is beautiful, but as a city, it has a wholly different aura. And it has a university and a tech corridor.

Fortunately, Sundance hired the Boulder-based producer Paula DuPré Pesmen (“The Cove,” “Chasing Ice,” “Porcelain War”) to help envision the transition.

In the meantime, here are four things (there’s plenty more) to know about the globally renowned festival that concludes Sunday and the one headed to Colorado in January 2027.

Colorado represented

Colorado was represented a couple of times this year. “See You When I See You,” a Jay Duplass-directed film, premiered at Sundance. It is based on beloved Denver stand-up Adam Cayton-Holland’s 2018 book, “Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir,“ about grief and his sister’s suicide. It stars David Duchovny, Hope Davis and Cooper Raiff and Kaitlyn Dever as siblings.

Then there was writer-director Ramzi Bashour, who in 2023 was among the cohort of young filmmakers working on their first feature during the Sundance Directors Lab, held at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. His debut feature, “Hot Water” — about a Lebanese mother and her son’s westward road trip — premiered in the U.S. Dramatic competition.

And the band DeVotchKa — with its roots in Colorado — returned to the place that launched them, as the festival celebrated the 20th anniversary of “Little Miss Sunshine.” “Yeah, everybody always says, ‘Man, I can’t believe it’s 20 years that flew by,’” frontman Nick Urata shared on a voice email. “But in this case, I have to say it doesn’t feel like that because that screening at Sundance 20 years ago was literally the first day of the rest of our lives. It was definitely the birth of our career as a band.”

They’d been touring and 21 years ago had self-released the album “How It Ends.” “Luckily, we got some airtime on listener-funded NPR stations, one of them being KCRW in L.A. And one morning they were playing us our song called “You’d Love Me,” he continued. “And Jonathan [Dayton] and Valerie [Faris], the directors, happened to hear it, and it sparked something. They got in touch with us about possibly using our music and doing some of the score for us. That is the coolest part of this whole story. The fact that those songs were released to little fanfare independently, and then it was repackaged along with this beautiful film, and the same exact songs were on the soundtrack album, and it got a Grammy nomination.”

Making young filmmakers household names

The Sundance labs are “a sneak peek at the artists you might see here … in the future,” Redford said in her speech. The next morning proved her prescient. When the Oscar nominations were announced, Sundance was well represented. Writer-director Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” made history with 16 nominations. Nipping at its heels was Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” with 13. Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet” garnered eight.

All three directors developed their first features in the Directors Lab: Coogler with “Fruitvale Station,” which starred his actor muse Michael B. Jordan; Anderson with the film that became “Hard Eight,” Zhao with “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. And then there’s last year’s mournfully gorgeous meditation on a changing west, “Train Dreams,” which had four nominations, including Best Picture. The Oscar-nominated “Come See Me In the Good Light,” the tear-jerking, laugh-evoking documentary about the late Colorado Poet Laureate, Andrea Gibson, and her wife, the poet Megan Falley, as they faced Gibson’s cancer diagnosis, also won a nomination.

Colorado’s documentary filmmakers rule

Another world premiere was Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell’s “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.” As engaging as it is terrifying, the doc about the reasonable existential dread AI has engendered in some, including director Roher, was produced by Colorado-based filmmaker Shane Boris and multi-hyphenate Ted Tremper (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “The Daily Show.”)

“We did the film with the intention of making a work that would be engaging, that could bring people into this issue,” said Boris. “But, also with like clarifying very complicated topics in a very short amount of time and in a way that gave people a sense of agency in a moment where it feels like everything is just happening to us as opposed to us.”

In his young career, Boris has an Oscar for “Navalny” and two nominations for “Fire of Love” and “The Edge of Democracy.” The movie, which demanded a deft editor, had two: Daysha Broadway and Denver’s own Davis Coombe, a Primetime Emmy winner for Jeff Orlowski’s social-media indictment, “The Social Dilemma.”

In one fell swoop, Colorado became a global film hub

While Sundance will be Colorado’s — heck, the country’s — biggest film fest in 2027, it arrives in a place that already has a rich film festival tradition. Shoutout to XicanIndie Film, Fest Durango Film Festival, Mountain Film, the Dragon Boat Film Festival, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film, the Boulder International Film Festival, the Denver Film Festival, and more. In fact, the Denver Film Festival had one of its best-attended iterations last November and will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Sundance also arrives in Colorado at a time when the state is undergoing changes. Earlier this month, Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade announced the state’s new film commissioner: Lauren
Grimshaw Sloan, whose time at SeriesFest means she knows the ins and outs of festivals. The one-two punch of Sundance and the Telluride Film Festival (over Labor Day weekend) have seemingly made Colorado a global film destination.

At the end of her festival-eve comments, Redford encouraged the gathered. “Let’s make it a great festival celebration, remembrance and hope for all that is possible,” she said.

The 48th festival, produced by the nonprofit Denver Film, runs Friday, , with screenings and events at the festival home base of the Sie FilmCenter, red carpets at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, and more at the MCA Holiday Theater, Denver Botanic Gardens, the Kirk of Highland and other venues.

Here’s a quick guide to some of this year’s most attention-worthy films and guests, as well as how-to tips on the featured screenings, shorts, awards ceremonies, panels, parties and other programming.

Tickets and a full schedule are available at .

The lowdown

The Denver Film Festival this year will feature some 140 narrative features, documentaries, and shorts — last year, there were 185 — and spans genres and formats including music videos and episodic shows. It offers red carpets, special presentations and individual screenings among ticket tiers, as well as packages.

Individual screenings cost $20, with $32.56 for special presentations and $43 for red carpets/galas (all fees included). Note: Some events are already sold out or on standby, so check availability and buy in advance. This year is expected to draw more than 40,000 attendees over its Oct. 31-Nov. 9 run. Thankfully, that’s spread out over a week-plus of programming.

John Elway + Netflix

This year’s programming coup is undoubtedly the which follows the former Denver Bronco’s four-decade career. It will be released on Netflix just after its DFF premiere.

Elway will be in attendance for the fest’s closing-night screening and red carpet walk, which is killer advertising for the fest to non-cinephiles. The doc is produced in part by Peyton Manning (another local Broncos hero) and the NFL, and looks every bit as outsized as Elway himself. 7 p.m. on Nov. 8 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House

More celebs

Film festivals are much more than their celebrity guests, but it’s notable this year that DFF has managed to secure an unusually large number of stars, both behind and in front of the camera.

After a 2024 event that nabbed Anthony Mackie (the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Captain America) for his Colorado-shot movie “Elevation,” DFF this year has landed influential director Gus Van Sant (“My Own Private Idaho,” “Dead Man’s Wire”), Delroy Lindo (“Sinners”), Lucy Liu (“Rosemead”), Ben Foster (“Christy”), Zoey Deutch (“Nouvelle Vague”), Niecy Nash-Betts (CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Award Recipient), Imogen Poots (“The Chronology of Water”), and the aforementioned Elway.

That’s a pretty great lineup, but one that only scratches the surface of the bedrock talent the fest typically features. Check out more screenings, speaking events and awards ceremonies via .

Titles on tap

There are too many buzzy films to list, from the critically divisive “Hamnet,” which looks at William Shakespeare’s tragic family life, to the French sci-fi “Arco,” which follows a 10-year-old boy’s journey back to the past (of 2075) and won the Annecy Cristal Award for Best Feature at Cannes earlier this year. If you’re looking for screenings of films like George Clooney’s wry “Jay Kelly,” however, you’ll have to wait for tickets on standby.

We’re particularly excited about the opening-night feature of “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” a star-studded murder-comedy directed by Denver’s own Rian Johnson, at the Ellie on Oct. 31. He was in attendance at the DFF in 2019 when the first “Knives Out” had its Colorado premiere at the Ellie (notably, and crew seem to have Netflix on speed dial these days, which is valuable in advance of the attention-sucking Sundance Film Festival coming to Boulder in 2027).

There’s also “The Testament of Ann Lee,” directed by Norwegian screenwriter and actor Mona Fastvold. Awards-watchers may recall that her Colorado-reared husband, Brady Corbet, directed last year’s Oscar-winning “The Brutalist,” which also screened at DFF 47 (and which Fastvold co-wrote). And the Late Night Showcase is always a blast with horror titles that you’ve probably never seen on the big screen (and likely won’t again), this year including “Primate” and “Sinners.”

The curtain rises on Oct. 31 with a red carpet screening of “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” directed by Denver-reared Rian Johnson (“Glass Onion,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The Ellie, a longtime Denver Film Fest venue, was unavailable to book last year, which gives this year’s return a fresh veneer of glamor. (Denver cinephiles may also recall that Johnson visited the Ellie with the first “Knives Out” in 2019).

More than 130 other screenings of narrative features, documentaries, shorts, student films and additional programming will take place across the Ellie, Denver Film’s home base of the Sie FilmCenter, the Highland neighborhood’s MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater, and Denver Botanic Gardens.

“Selecting from so many accomplished works was an incredibly difficult process,” said Denver Film Festival artistic director Matthew Campbell in a statement. “But we’ve curated a lineup that reflects both the diversity and strength of contemporary storytelling with a remarkable selection of films, storylines and performances.”

Tickets for all events, including individual screenings, parties, panels, Red Carpets and Special Presentations, group passes and full-fest packages, go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 6, at and (and one day earlier for Denver Film members).

Amid other big titles (the horror flick “Primate,” Bradley Cooper’s “Is This Thing On?”), the festival will close Nov. 8, with the world premiere of “Elway,” the Netflix and Omaha Productions-produced documentary on Hall of Famer and former Broncos quarterback John Elway.

“The film chronicles his early collegiate career at Stanford through his 16 seasons as the Denver Broncos starting quarterback,” according to a news release. “Elway will join co-directors Ken Rodgers and Chris Weaver to present the film at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Nov. 8.”

Other recognizable guests and award recipients this year include Delroy Lindo (“Sinners,” “Malcolm X”), who is receiving Denver Film’s Next50 Career Achievement Award (following a screening of “Sinners” at the Sie FilmCenter Nov. 1); acclaimed director Van Sant (“My Own Private Idaho,” “Milk,” “To Die For”), who is getting the Excellence in Directing Award for his work on “Dead Man’s Wire” (Nov. 4 at MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater); Lucy Liu (“Rosemead,” “Kill Bill”), receiving the John Cassavetes Award at a screening of “Rosemead”; and Niecy Nash-Betts (“All’s Fair,” “Reno: 911!”) who’s getting the fourth CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Award presented to an entertainment contributor who uplifts the LGBTQIA+ community.

More notable titles and premieres include “Sentimental Value,” winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival; “Hamnet,” directed by Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao; “The Testament of Ann Lee,” from writer-director Mona Fastvold (of Oscar-winner “The Brutalist,” directed by her husband, Colorado native and Denver Film Fest vet Brady Corbet); “Jay Kelly,” Noah Baumbach’s dramedy with George Clooney and Adam Sandler; Korean director Park Chan-woo’s “No Other Choice”; Brendan Frasier’s “Rental Family”; and Sydney Sweeney’s boxing movie “Christy”; as well as “Nuremberg,” “Man on the Run,” “The Secret Agent” and more prize winners.

The robust return is notable this year as the massive Sundance Film Festival looms in Boulder for 2027. That event, which draws international filmmakers and leads to big-budget deals in the film industry, will eat up plenty of film-fest oxygen in the state — even if Sundance officials have vowed to work with existing Colorado film festivals, of which there are more than a dozen. Those range from the tone-setting Telluride Film Festival to smaller events in Boulder, Colorado Springs and Aspen.

After months of multimillion-dollar funding appeals from cities across the country, the nonprofit film festival board announced Thursday that the famed event will move from its longtime home in Park City, Utah, to Colorado beginning in 2027.

Boulder beat out a combined bid from Park City and Salt Lake City, as well as one from Cincinnati, which revealed earlier Thursday that it was no longer in the running.

Boulder won due to its attractive mix of culture, including its mountain setting, technology sector, arts community, college population and community values, officials said at a celebratory press conference outside the Boulder Theater on Thursday afternoon.

The city is set to host the event from 2027 through 2036, with a potential 86,000 attendees and $132 million in economic activity, as Park City reported in 2024.

“Boulder will help write the future of the film industry,” Gov. Jared Polis said to raucous applause outside the Boulder Theater, echoing Sundance officials who praised the city’s amenities.

Dozens of people hugged and pumped their fists at the giddy Thursday event, where music played loudly and more than 100 people showed up to listen to the politicians, city boosters, and Sundance officials. Oscar-winning, Boulder-based filmmakers Daniel Junge and Paula DuPré Pesmen were also in attendance, with Pesmen praising the festival’s potential impact on local filmmakers from the stage.

The news means that Hollywood will now turn its focus toward the Front Range, which should benefit financially in January and February, when the trend-setting festival is held, an otherwise sluggish time of year for hotels and restaurants here. Add to that the promise of hundreds of Hollywood elite in limousines, dozens of red carpets and worldwide media coverage.

In response to a question from The Denver Post, Gov. Polis said the festival will become an “anchor tenant” in the state’s film culture, as it works with students and up-and-coming filmmakers and expands access to resources. He declined to say whether it would help encourage more legislative investment into the state’s film incentive programs, which have lagged far behind neighboring states in encouraging films to shoot here.

“This is an important part of showing how Colorado is here in the entertainment industry and the film industry, and of course, in and of itself, it’s an iconic event that we here in Colorado are going to help write a successful next chapter for.”

Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman started the entire process about two years ago, having reached out to old friend and former producer Gigi Pritzker, who’s now vice chair of the Sundance board, Pritzker said.

Sundance sees the heart of the festival as centered in downtown Boulder, with a variety of existing theaters and venues, and adapted spaces around the pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall. Various University of Colorado venues are also in play, said Todd Saliman, president of the University of Colorado, in an interview.

“Macky (Auditorium) is really the lynchpin,” added Lori Call, of CU Boulder’s communications department. “They’ve looked at Muenzinger Auditorium, they’ve looked at Glenn Miller Ballroom and they’ve looked at a host of venues affiliated with the (Folsom Field) stadium.”

As with Sundance officials, Gov. Polis has touted Boulder’s mountain backdrop, hotel capacity and Denver International Airport — not to mention festival founder Robert Redford’s ties to the University of Colorado, .

Polis and state legislators have been working since last year to shore up incentives for the event, with a potential $34 million state tax credit for Sundance. The incentives would be doled out over the next decade, or about $3 to $5 million per year. A revised legislative bill — which would also leverage $500,000 annually to support “small or existing local film festival entities,” as sponsors put it — passed , and is next headed to Polis’ desk.

While most legislators have supported the drive, State Rep. Bob Marshall of House District 43, called it a “taxpayer bribe” in a letter to The Denver Post.”

Now that it’s decided, officials from Sundance, the state, Boulder, and private donors and businesses will spend the next two years shoring up theaters, meeting and party spaces, and lodging options in a collaborative effort. It will include not only the state incentives but work from Boulder’s business boosters to meet Sundance’s high expectations for hosting, and surrounding cities that will absorb out-of-state travelers and related events.

Choosing Boulder cements Colorado’s reputation as a global film destination, joining prestigious events such as the Telluride Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, Boulder International Film Festival and Denver Film Festival, Sundance festival director Eugene Hernandez told The Denver Post on Thursday.

He has attended those events, and Sundance wants to play nice with all of them — including Denver’s SeriesFest, often called the “Sundance of television.” Hernandez, a former journalist who founded the respected film site IndieWire, has worked on SeriesFest’s staff in the past.

Like the 2025 Sundance event, which ran from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 in the resort town of Park City, Boulder’s will be programmed during the early months of the year. The festival was running out of space and goodwill in Park City, especially during the height of its lucrative ski season, .

Sundance and business leaders vowed to make an impact outside of Boulder by continuing to support local filmmakers as part of its development programs, and to stay ahead of the festival’s needs, such as more venues and capacity for attendees at one of the world’s premiere independent film festivals.

“It all starts today,” festival director Hernandez said.

But one thing the 3-hour, 35-minute movie (with a 15-minute intermission) doesn’t have is a director who’s resting on his laurels. Colorado native Brady Corbet, who helmed the picture and co-wrote it with director and partner Mona Fastvold, has already started writing his next film — even while “The Brutalist” is sprinting its way through awards territory.

The new movie will be a , and it’s not hard to imagine it’ll further trace themes of trauma, immigration and generational upheaval, following Corbet-directed films such as 2015’s “The Childhood of a Leader” and 2018’s “Vox Lux,” starring Natalie Portman.

As a former actor who appeared in acclaimed films and TV series like “Funny Games,” “24,” and “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” Corbet knows that patting oneself on the back can be the death of art.

“I’m always sort of pivoting because I never want to repeat myself, even though I am investigating these themes that are absolutely related,” the 36-year-old said this week during a video interview. “I think ‘The Brutalist’ certainly was a response to ‘Vox Lux.’ ”

“Vox Lux,” which screened at the 2018 Denver Film Festival as its closing title, is a dark, willfully garish fable about pop stardom and the emptiness of fame, with original music by Grammy-nominated artist Sia. It featured a first-act depiction of a school shooting that was influenced by the Columbine massacre in 1999 — and that drove away dozens of shocked audience members, having the film would include that.

Corbet had a lot of family in the audience that night, he said, and his Colorado connections remain strong, having grown up in Glenwood Springs. And yet, that’s not enough to bring him back here for new projects.

“After ‘Vox Lux,’ I decided I didn’t want to make any more movies in the U.S.,” he said. That was mostly due to red tape and restrictions — including in Colorado, where tax-rebate film incentives remain significantly lower than neighboring states such as New Mexico and Utah — and not necessarily the reception of “Vox Lux.”

Born in Scottsdale, Ariz., and raised in Glenwood by his single mother, Corbet is among a growing swath of major directors who grew up here or have Colorado roots. (See Oscar winners and nominees such as Lee Isaac Chung, Rian Johnson, , Chris Sanders, and Jon Watts).

“It’s really sad to say that, because you can’t imagine how happy I would be to come shoot a movie in Colorado,” he said. “But for many, many reasons, it’s just not financially viable.”

“The Brutalist,” which begins in 1947, was shot mostly in Hungary — including its U.S.-set scenes, which comprise much of the film. It follows the Hungarian-born, Bauhaus-trained architect László Tóth as he’s torn away from his family in postwar Europe and heads to America to rebuild, literally and figuratively, while navigating racism, heroin addiction, family decay and threats to his artistic integrity.

Suffused with postwar anxiety and implicit Holocaust trauma, it’s by turns insightful and tragic, but always gorgeous in its carven, chilly way. When wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) enters the picture and commissions a major project from Tóth, we see not just his architectural brilliance but also visceral scenes of love and abuse.

The movie’s Oscars chances are high, with nominations for best picture, best director and acting nods for star Adrien Brody, Pearce and Felicity Jones (who plays Tóth’s wife, Erzsébet). With a good chunk of the dialogue in Hungarian (and using AI to smooth it, which has caused ), it feels like an authentic portrait of a person and his people.

“I’m only familiar with the folks on my mother’s side of the family, but her mother comes from an Irish Catholic family and background,” Corbet said, noting that he attended a Catholic school while growing up. “However, my father’s entire family comes from Hungary.”

“With (‘The Brutalist’) I was very interested in how men and women of the 1950s were not very expressive,” he added. “My grandfather passed away a couple of years ago, and he was the loveliest, sweetest man. But he very rarely spoke about his time in the second world war. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how traumatic it must have been for so many years to fear the potential loss of life and be faced with the horrors of war.”

Corbet has a 10-year-old daughter, Ada, who earlier this month when her father gave a rousing speech after winning best director. “The Brutalist” also won best picture at that ceremony, among others. (He told The : “I was pretty moved to see the person I love more than anything in the world (in the audience). I’ve never seen her cry from joy before, so it was very touching.”)

When Corbet began making “The Brutalist,” Ada was only 3 years old. After making it, Corbet said he appreciates being a father all the more, as well as his own, complex family history.

“I usually try not to interpret a movie for people, because you don’t want to ruin the experience,” he said. “But for me, my character (played by Brody) is imbued with a little bit of my grandfather, because he doesn’t express himself verbally. He expresses himself with his gestures, and expresses his trauma and what he’s been through by the creation of this structure, which I think is very poetic.”

“The Brutalist” is also notable for having been filmed largely in the old-school celluloid format of VistaVision, a pre-digital, high-definition technology that emerged in the late 1950s. The widescreen, 35mm format prefigured IMAX and other high-density imagery in a way that still stuns on screen.

“Some extraordinary filmmakers have reached out to me, like Alfonso Cuarón, Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve and many others, and I’ve been extremely touched,” Corbet said of his decision to champion celluloid. He’s already planning to shoot his next film on 8-perf 65mm film — about three-and-half times larger than the standard 35mm.

“I didn’t consult with any filmmakers, but I probably should have,” he laughed. “But my cinematographer Lol Crawley had worked with it before. He actually loaded film on the (Star Wars prequel) ‘The Phantom Menace’ for visual effects. Even some shots in ‘Poor Things’ (shot by Robbie Ryan) are in VistaVision, so it’s not like it totally fell out of fashion. People just don’t it use that often in the way we used it.”

The unforgiving format gives cavernous space to shots of stark buildings but also ornately appointed mansions and threadbare apartments. Still, its clarity prompted Corbet to use 16 mm film in some montages and then blow it up to 70 mm for exhibition.

Why else do we go to the movies if not for the gorgeous, enthralling spectacle?

“I really believe the future of the medium is large format,” Corbet said. “It gives people a reason to get up off of the couch, and I’m just like them. Movie (tickets) are expensive. I’ve got mouths to feed, and unless you make it worth my while, I don’t want to waste my time.”

It did, and for its 21st year, the festival expects to welcome 25,000 film enthusiasts, media, industry members and movie stars (Shirley MacLaine, Alec Baldwin, and James Franco are just a few of the actors who have attended in the past) during its March 13-15, 2025, run.

But the city — a college town and bedroom community of 100,000 year-round residents — hasn’t really kept pace when it comes to venues, said Kathy Beeck, who co-founded the fest with sister Robin Beeck. “Venues have always been challenging for us, (whether) it’s having up-to-date technology or converting a high school or church into a movie theater.”

Park City, Utah, on the other hand, a ski town of just 8,250 people, is designed to host enormous influxes of tourists for both the resort (the largest in the U.S., with more than 300 trails and 41 lifts, ) and for the Sundance Film Festival, one of the movie industry’s annual, and most famous, galas.

Founded in 1978 by Robert Redford, Sundance has called Park City home since 1981, and the city has adapted, “which has allowed them to keep going there,” Beeck said.

But that could change. In April, with its contract in Park City expiring, Sundance announced that it would consider other cities to host the fest in 2027 and thereafter. Many municipalities applied, and Sundance narrowed the bids to 15 cities in May, including Cincinnati, San Francisco, Atlanta, Louisville, Ken., Santa Fe, a joint bid from Park City and Salt Lake City, and Boulder.

In September, Boulder was named one of three finalists, along with Cincinnati and Salt Lake/Park City. “January is a traditionally slow time for tourism in Denver and Boulder, and (Boulder) has the capacity to serve the people that would participate,” Gov. Jared Polis said then, touting the mountain backdrop, hotel capacity and Denver International Airport — not to mention Redford’s ties to the University of Colorado.

But is Boulder glitzy enough for the silver screen? And if so, does it have the amenities, venue space and the tourism infrastructure to handle 86,000 attendees, including hundreds of Hollywood elite in limousines, dozens of red carpets and worldwide media attention?

Maybe, and maybe not. Festival director Eugene Hernandez didn’t respond to requests for an interview with The Denver Post as he prepares for the 2025 iteration of Sundance, Jan. 23-Feb. 2. He’s said in the past that a decision on where to go will come in the late winter or early spring 2025.

But John Tayer, president and CEO of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, which represents about 1,300 businesses, is confident that the city is ready for its shot at stardom.

“No disrespect to Cincinnati, but Boulder is accessible by an international airport,” he said. “We have incredibly convenient transportation, and all the amenities and theaters and services that you need are within walking distance of each other.”

“A tremendous honor”

Landing Sundance would be a full-circle moment for the city, said Mark Heinritz, co-owner of Boulder’s oldest restaurant, The Sink.

Not only is it already a hotbed of , but Redford himself worked at The Sink while attending CU in the 1950s. The Sink and its neighbors in The University Hill district would also get a lift from the potential blast of spending.

“We’re often rubbing our nickels together at that time of year to get through,” he said. “We get some four- or five-day periods that are really busy, like homecoming and (football games) and move-in week. As far as 10 straight days (of Sundance)? I don’t know.”

Heinritz said he foresees complaints about traffic and other congestion, but that the festival would be nothing but good for independent businesses.

Jocelyn Sarnow, director of events and marketing for the restaurants Corrida, Bellota and Michelin Guide-recommended OAK at Fourteenth — all of which have the quality of reputation, food and service to attract high-profile guests, agrees.

“During high-traffic events … OAK is typically fully booked with reservations from the moment we open our doors at 5 p.m. until our last seating at 9 p.m.,” she wrote in an email.

Events like CU’s graduation, the Bolder Boulder run, and games at the 50,183-capacity Folsom Field also “attract visitors from near and far, making Boulder a hub for celebration and culture, and we align our staffing and preparation to meet the demand,” she added.

The four-block-long Pearl Street Mall hosts more than 200 businesses alone, and there are 123 restaurants in downtown Boulder, with hundreds more in surrounding areas. Nine of those, like OAK, have been recognized by Michelin — including a coveted Michelin star for Frasca Food & Wine. Others, such as Flagstaff House, have a cachet that extends beyond Colorado.

Park City on the other hand has around 70 retail stores and 50 restaurants in its historic shopping district, according to Visit Park City. And since Michelin doesn’t review restaurants in Utah, it doesn’t have any listed in the guide.

As for hotels, the trendy Moxy chain recently opened in Boulder, adding , to a stable of about 4,300 hotel rooms spread across 50 hotels in Boulder and Longmont, according to a from Matthews Real Estate Investment.

Park City offers about 4,000 hotel rooms, said venue-sourcing company , but many more “beds” if you count house rentals and ski resorts.

“I was seeing houses for rent — for one week — in Park City for anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000. Houses where people wouldn’t even have their own bedrooms,” said Colorado producer and filmmaker Paula DuPré Pesmen.

She’s had a trio of high-profile films premiere at Sundance, and this summer was invited to speak with Sundance officials about potentially moving the festival to Boulder.

“But even with parking and transportation problems, it’s ultimately worth being (in Park City), because it’s an amazing festival and a tremendous honor,” she said.

“Colorado and Boulder are an enormous cost advantage over Park City, where often you can’t find hotel rooms around festival time,” Polis told The Denver Post. “We’ve worked with all hotels in the metro area to keep prices consistent mid-January, in the $150 to $200 range, and they were excited to do it. … Another major asset is our fan base. We have 3.5 million people within 100 miles of Boulder, and they’re ready to embrace this.”

A strong film culture

But is Hollywood ready to embrace Colorado?

The state already has a strong film culture, with the celebrity-studded Telluride Film Festival, the citywide Denver Film Festival, and dozens of smaller ones. But Sundance would be another level of publicity and branding, especially for Boulder.

There is some worry that recent Front Range movie-theater closures, including art houses that have hosted the Denver Film Festival in the past, will make the metro area less attractive when Sundance needs extra venues. Denver is down two legendary theaters as of summer 2024 — The Esquire and Chez Artiste — while Regal Continental multiplex and Meadows Stadium 12 in Littleton both erased nearly two dozen screens when they shuttered in 2023.

But others say that shouldn’t be a concern.

The University of Colorado’s historic, 2,036-seat Macky Auditorium has already been identified as a primary venue for Sundance, as well as other spots on campus.

“We and Sundance both think there’s not only room for both festivals, but for collaboration,” said BIFF’s Robin Beeck, who along with Kathy met with Sundance officials over the summer.

“We have host venues here that are up to date, like Cinemark (in the 29th Street shopping center), but Macky would benefit from a technology upgrade, and Sundance could make that happen,” she said.

As for other amenities, Park City may have an advantage. DIA is 50 miles from Boulder while Park City is only 35 miles from Salt Lake City International Airport.

Then there’s the skiing, a big draw for movie-industry folks in the winter. Some of Park City’s Ski Resorts are within walking distance of its main drag, and a chairlift ferries people from downtown to the massive Park City Ski Resort. But in Boulder, the closest ski area is Eldora, at 21 miles away, and it is the opposite of glitzy, offering 10 lifts and family-friendly skiing.

Most of Colorado’s biggest and best-known slopes, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain and Crested Butte, are at least two hours away (in good traffic) from Boulder,, and Aspen if closer to three hours or more.

Connecting with audiences

Another area where Boulder’s bid lags is funding.

The University of Colorado has promised a “big commitment” to supporting the festival’s logistics and housing issues, said Eve Lieberman, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

That’s why her office felt comfortable providing a one-time, $1.5 million incentive through its strategic fund. The state’s film office, Creative Industries and tourism offices are combining for another $325,000. There’s also an unspecified tax credit in the governor’s budget, but it’s contingent on bringing the festival here.

The total incentive could rise to $3 million if you count City of Boulder contributions and in-kind services. Visit Boulder and other organizations also supported the bid.

Still, Colorado’s public bid looks paltry next to Cincinnati, which is dangling $5 million (including in-kind services), and Utah, with a combined $6 million (including corporate money and donors).

And there’s plenty on the line: Sundance would have a projected $100 million-plus economic impact on the Front Range if it came here, according to Polis.

Despite the problems, though, Sundance may have other reasons why it might be looking to move or expand, said Andrew Rodgers, a producer and the former CEO of Denver Film, which puts on the Denver Film Festival.

“Film festivals across the board have suffered since the pandemic and their models are really struggling,” he explained. “So festivals have to evolve and figure out new ways of connecting with audiences.

“What Sundance is facing right now is a future in which, if they do nothing, they could be radically different than they are now,” Rodgers said. “Its mix of venues is evolving, and in a small town like Park City, there’s just not much diversity. I think there’s a decent chance they’ll stay, but either way, if they move, it’s a fundamental change to the character of the event.

“Boulder has a deep artistic spirit, and moving there would generate a lot of new excitement for the festival,” he added.

Here’s what to know in advance of the Friday, Nov. 1-Nov. 10 event, which takes place at various venues across the city. Visit for more information and to buy tickets.

The basics

The festival this year features 185 titles that span genres and formats from narrative features and documentaries to shorts, music videos and episodic shows. It offers red carpet, special presentations and individual screenings among other ticket tiers, as well as packages.

The screenings, events, panels, parties and industry guests are spread across Denver Film’s home base of the Sie FilmCenter, as well as the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, MCA Denver Holiday Theater, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and the AMC 9 + CO 10.

Individual screenings are typically $19 with fees, $27 for special presentations, and $50 for red carpets/galas. Tickets and the full schedule are available at .

The celebs

Denver Film Fest this year welcomes plenty of notable creatives, but the brightest among them is Anthony Mackie (the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Captain America), along with director George Nolfi for their film “Elevation,” which was shot mostly in Golden and Boulder (Nov. 4). Director Jason Reitman’s new film “Saturday Night,” which traces the run-up to the first “SNL” episode, also arrives with him and others in tow (Nov. 7).

Multi-talented actor Patricia Clarkson will be at her “Lilly” gala presentation on Nov. 2, while similarly versatile award-winner Melissa Leo will appear with “The Knife” (sold out; see below). There’s also Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”) and his new movie “All That We Love,” plus Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”), Joan Chen (“Dìdi”), Andrew Wyatt (“Barbie”) and Gabrielle La Belle (“Saturday Night”), among others.

The buzz

Denver Film said this week that screenings of “The Piano Lesson,” “The Brutalist,” “Nickel Boys” and “Blitz” are already sold out, and that “Lilly” (starring Clarkson), “The Knife” (Leo), “Saturday Night” (Reitman), “Dìdi” (Chen) and “Jazzy” (Golden Rose) are close to selling out.

That’s not surprising, given that they’ve been on sale for a few weeks, but it’s a reminder that if you want to attend something with buzz, mark it now. We’d recommend perusing the Special Presentation slate, which includes lots of 2024 fest-faves and other indies. See “Bird,” “Better Man,” “Oh, Canada,” “Nightbitch” (starring Colorado’s Amy Adams), “Small Things Like These,” and “The Room Next Door.”

The locals

The gala presentations — or the more formal, high-profile screenings — include the new movie “The Order,” based on a book by Denver City Council member Kevin Flynn, and starring Jude Law.

But you can also see Alexandre O. Philippe’s “Chain Reactions” (a documentary about the impact of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”); Jeff Gipe’s Rocky Flats doc “Half-Life of Memory: American’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory”; Taylor McFadden’s “Lovers”; Jeff Orlowski-Yang and Sarah Keo’s “Chasing Time”; and other titles from statewide filmmakers as part of the Colorado Spotlight section. ]]> 6819332 2024-10-31T06:00:50+00:00 2024-10-30T16:51:03+00:00 /2024/10/28/anthony-mackie-captain-america-denver-film-festival-mcu-elevation/ Mon, 28 Oct 2024 17:26:23 +0000 /?p=6810863 Anthony Mackie, who stars in the new Colorado-shot film “Elevation,” will visit the 47th Denver Film Festival next week, producers announced.

The fest, which runs Friday, Nov. 1 through Sunday, Nov 10, includes hundreds of screenings, panels, workshops, and parties; other celebs such as Patricia Clarkson, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, are also confirmed. But adding Mackie and the local premiere of “Elevation” is a last-minute coup, given his high profile in recent years.

“Elevation,” premiering nationally on Nov. 8, co-stars Morena Baccarin in its post-apocalyptic road tale. Mackie’s character and a pair of women “venture from the safety of their homes to face monstrous creatures to save the life of a young boy,” according to a studio synopsis.

Mackie’s 5 p.m. event on Monday, Nov. 4, in Denver, includes the Colorado premiere of “Elevation” with MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater, followed by a post-film Q&A with Mackie and director George Nolfi. Tickets are on sale now for $27.31 (including the service fee) at .

Mackie, who’s best known as winged Avenger Falcon and the new Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the MCU’s “Brave New World” is scheduled for a Feb. 14, 2025 release) plays a single father in the post-apocalyptic Rocky Mountains — a trope that����ap getting another flogging here, following a decades-long string of movies, TVs and video games that depict Colorado as ground zero for nuclear holocausts, zombies and hostile aliens.

Principal photography for “Elevation” began in November 2022 in various Colorado locations, and finished up in late March 2023. At the time it started, “Elevation” was confirmed as “the biggest production to come to Colorado since (Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 film) ‘The Hateful Eight,'” wrote Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman in an email to The Denver Post.

The film was mostly shot around Golden and Boulder, with George Nolfi directing, and Brad Fuller as principal producer, Zuckerman said. It cost about $18 million while employing nearly 300 cast and crew, according to the .

Watch the trailer below.