The
24th annual Aspen Filmfest begins today,
offering screenings of 25 independent films
as well as seminars, homages to industry
giants, live performances and discussions
with rising filmmakers.
Although most of the screenings during the five-day festival will be held at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, there will be downvalley events at the Crystal Theatre in Carbondale and, for the first time, at the Springs Theatre in Glenwood Springs.
"It's a recognition on our part that Aspen isn't just Aspen. Our community is the Roaring Fork Valley, and we've known that some of our audience came from outside Aspen, so we wanted to try to spread the festival," said Katherine Sand, the general manager of Aspen Filmfest.
As for the film fare offered, this year's festival keeps with the traditional Aspen Filmfest theme, "independent by nature," Sand said.
"As always, our focus is on independent films. Part of what a festival exists to do is to show things you would not necessarily see otherwise - films people may not have heard of," Sand said.
But although most of the films are smaller, lesser-known pictures, a few of the featured movies have been well received at other festivals by both critics and audiences.
"We have a lot of movies that have been doing extremely well at huge festivals, like 'Frida,' with Salma Hayek, and 'Moonlight Mile,' with Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon. We also have 'Real Women Have Curves,' which won the audience award at Sundance," Sand said.
In addition to movie screenings, there will be a ceremony dedicated to this year's Filmfest honoree, Sydney Pollack, which will include clips from several of his films, discussion of his body of work, and commentary from the renowned director himself.
Along with entertainment, education is a major Filmfest goal, Sand said. The group will hold screenings and bring filmmakers into classrooms at Aspen schools to educate and encourage budding film buffs.
There also will be an adult seminar at the Wheeler taught by University of California at Berkeley film scholar Sylvia Swift.
"We're very excited about (Swift's) seminar, and we had something similar last year that completely sold out. It's designed for anyone with a passing interest in film, with loads of clips, and a goal of helping people understand the connections between films," Sand said.
"It makes the experience more three-dimensional to understand why a director makes the choice that he makes, to understand about the lighting design and how that contributes to the tone of the film. It gives people a kick," she added.
While the Aspen Filmfest is one of the oldest festivals of its kind in the state, in the past few years a number of other communities have started up their own events. And some established festivals, like the Telluride Film Festival, which just held its 29th annual event, have grown exponentially in just a short period of time.
Stephanie Two Eagles, film commissioner for the Colorado Film Commission, has tracked the evolution of these festivals over time.
"There are definitely more festivals, and they're more and more popular. Colorado has 25 listed right now, including some student filmfests, but there are probably more, probably some smaller ones out there we don't know about," said Two Eagles.
But while one might expect that more festivals would create competition for top independent films, both Sand and Two Eagles stated that there is no animosity between different event organizers.
"We're a smaller festival; we're very much an audience and community festival. Doing what we do, we focus on our community and our audience. Certainly I don't see any evidence of competition," Sand noted.
"I think they all have their own special flavor. Telluride, for example, often gets lumped in with Sundance, but they're so totally different. Sundance is a market, it really is, but Telluride is for film lovers. And then you've got these sweet, small little festivals," Two Eagles said.
Two Eagles also believes that the number of festivals could continue to increase, due to the wealth of quality independent films out there just waiting for an audience.
"There's a place for independent film that's bigger than it's ever been. Technology has changed the way we make movies. You can make a movie out of your garage and you can edit it on your computer, so there are a lot of possibilities for independent film," she said.
As far as filmmakers are concerned, the more festivals the better, Two Eagles said.
"The more festivals there are, the more chance they have to get their product shown, plus they can pick and choose based on who they want to see their films and the character of each festival," Two Eagles said.
But ultimately, the film-festival phenomenon boils down to one simple thing.
"You know, people love film," Two Eagles pointed out.
Aspen Filmfest runs from Sept. 25-29. Free event schedules are available at the Wheeler Opera House in downtown Aspen.
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