Watch CBS News

Music A Big Theme In This Year's Denver Film Festival

By Libby Smith

DENVER (CBS4) The 39th Denver Film Festival opened this week with a red carpet presentation of "La La Land." Actress Emma Stone and director Damien Chazelle walked the red carpet and talked about the film, which is an original musical set in Los Angeles.

denver-film-festival-2
Director Damian Chazelle and Actress Emma Stone (credit: CBS)

"It was a movie that I was trying to get off the ground for a long time, so it sort of swirled in the head for a long time. So it felt like a dream-come-true to get to even shoot it," Chazelle told CBS4 outside the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.

denver-film-festival
Director Damian Chazelle and Actress Emma Stone with Festival Director Britta Erickson (credit: CBS)

"La La Land" follows two artists, Mia (played by Stone) and Sebastian (played by Ryan Gosling), as they fall in love and pursue their careers.

denver-film-festival-3
Emma Stone speaks to CBS4 at Denver Film Festival (credit: CBS)

"I'm very happy and proud to be a part of it. I think that Damian made something really special and original that also pays homage to films of the 50s and the movies that inspire him," Stone told CBS4.

"La La Land" was one of four red carpet events during this year's film festival.

LINK: 39th Denver Film Festival

"Our centerpiece presentation is 'Lion,' courtesy of the Weinstein Company. And it's their Academy contender for this year. It is an amazingly, beautifully shot film, as well as, very emotionally packed story based on a true story," said Britta Erickson, director of the film festival.

An Australian film, "Lion" tells the story of a child who's stuck on a train that takes him thousands of miles from his home. He lives on the streets of Kolkata, India until an Austrialan couple adopts him. The movie stars Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman. The red carpet event is Friday, November 4th at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Showtime is 8 p.m.

Other red carpet presentations include "The Edge of Seventeen" on Saturday, November 12th at 2:30 p.m. And the closing night presentation of "Jackie," the Jacqueline Kennedy biopic starting Natalie Portman. That's on Saturday, November 12th at 8:00 p.m.

"I really think that people can look through the guide and find something that really speaks to them, but as I always encourage all of our festival goers to take a risk on something. That's what festivals are about," Erickson said.

There are 243 total titles playing during the festival. That includes shorts and music videos.

"We've got our annual mixed tape section which is music videos, which we added a few years ago, which has been very popular. And we have some great local music videos in that package," Erickson explained.

Music is one of the themes of this year's festival, with "La La Land" and all the music videos.

"We have 'American Epic' which is a three-part series which explores the original recording machine. They have a bunch of artists go back and talk about that machine as well as record music on it," Erickson explained.

"American Epic" shows individually on Thursday, November 3rd, Friday, November 4th, and Saturday, November 5th, and then runs as a marathon on Sunday, November 13th. It's produced by Robert Redford.

Every year, the Denver Film Festival shines a spotlight on one country's cinematic achievements. This year that country is Spain. Festival goers can pick from seven new feature films, three shorts, and the Best Documentary winner from the 36th Denver Film Festival, "The Search for Emak Bakia."

"What we found fascinating when putting together the Spanish focus was the great diversity of film work that's happening in Spain," Erickson said.

New to the festival this year is The Annex space at the newly restored McNichols Building. It's based on Main Street at the Sundance Film Festival.

"We're very excited. All of the panels will be happening there. The Annex is open on a daily basis for free. There will be a beer garden," Erickson explained.

Also new to the festival, a virtual reality experience which will be based at The Annex.

The Colorado Spotlight features more than two-dozen feature-length films, shorts, and music videos.

"We're really proud of the Colorado Spotlight this year. I think, next year, we're going to see the fruits of all the flurry of activity this summer, that will be in next year's festival," Erickson said.

Colorado continues to see growth in filmmaking within its borders, particularly among narrative film projects.

"We've seen a flurry of activity in the narrative side which is where we've all been hoping as a film community that we would start to see the rise, because documentary, we've really already seen the rise of documentary filmmaking coming out of this state," Erickson said.

The 39th Denver Film Festival runs through November 13th.

Libby Smith is a Special Projects Producer at CBS4. If you have a story you'd like to tell CBS4 about, call 303-863-TIPS (8477) or visit the News Tips section.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.