It’s Colorado’s 150th anniversary, and Rob DuRay and Kevin Smith are giving Coloradans 150 reasons to go see Colorado-related films out in the community.
“Colorado has been the backdrop for some truly iconic films: The Shining, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, True Grit and the stories keep coming,” says Smith, Denver Film CEO. “Film is one of the most powerful ways we connect, reflect and celebrate who we are, and there’s no better time to do that than Colorado’s 150th anniversary.
Make that nearly 700 films that Colorado has contributed to American cinema history since 1876. Denver Film has compiled the first, and most comprehensive catalog of its kind to date. And the organization is teaming up with DuRay’s Switchboard Strategies marketing firm to screen 150 films around Colorado and bring people into the community through theaters.
Each of the featured films were shot or set in Colorado or feature top talent from Colorado. DuRay hopes that the widespread events and their programming will spark exploration and community using the theater.
“We really believe community is built in those moments,” DuRay says. “When people experience something new together, or learn together, or have their breath taken away.”
Special Screenings
Some screenings will be free, and others will go into supporting the local theaters or nonprofits that are organizing the events. Full screening schedules can be found at the CO150 website.
Movies screened will have accompanying programming. For example, the 1990 film The Incident will be screened on-site in the courtroom where it was filmed in the Pioneers Museum in downtown Colorado Springs. Other Colorado Springs programming includes the following:
- A showing of BlacKkKlansmen — a film about the first black police officer in the Colorado Springs police force during the Civil Rights Movement — will host a former undercover police officer speaking after the showing.
- A screening of the doomsday film Dr. Strangelove at the Ent Center for the Arts will be accompanied by an art exhibit themed around environmental destruction.
- A showing of War Games will feature speakers from the U.S. Air Force Academy discussing the accuracy of the film.
In Colorado Springs, venues will include Lulu’s Downtown, the Ent Center for the Arts and the Pioneers Museum with other venues in the works, according to DuRay.
Get Out and Explore
Smith hopes people will adventure outside of their hometowns as well and go visit communities statewide that they have never been to. Many of the venues are historic theaters throughout the state.
“What a great opportunity to see [the films] the way they were intended, with an audience,” says Ralph Giordano from the Independent Film Society of Colorado (IFSOC).
Giordano is a Colorado Springs-based filmmaker and film enthusiast. With many of the featured films being older, many residents may have never had the chance to see them in theaters. Giordano says one of the best parts of the CO150 Film Festival is the awareness that it brings back to cinema.
Some CO150 events outside of Colorado Springs that DuRay is especially excited about include the following:
- A screening of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining featuring a talk from author Buzzy Jackson who will speak about the movie’s ability to capture fear through isolation, and how it relates to Colorado as a piece of cinema.
- A screening of Little Miss Sunshine at Red Rocks Amphitheater accompanied by a performance from Boulder-based band Devotchka who wrote the original score for the movie.
- Multiple showings of various films at the Frontier Drive-Inn in Center, Colorado. DuRay says this hidden gem of a drive-in theater is complete with overnight accommodations.
Colorado Film Talent
Giordano says the grassroots feel of some of these nontraditional screenings is exciting and inspiring for filmmakers.
“We used to just put together a screening, just me and my friends in someone’s living room,” he says of his own upbringing and creative path.
Now IFSOC will showcase local short films made by Colorado Springs Filmmakers before the Dr. Strangelove screening at the Ent Center.
DuRay aims to reinvigorate Colorado pride in filmmaking, saying that with heavy industries in film all being outside of the state, it can be easy to forget the rich film history that Colorado has. But he stresses the rich amount of talent that has come out of Colorado that includes the following stars:
- Don Cheadle (Iron Man, Hotel Rwanda) went to Denver East High School.
- Lon Chaney (The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) was born in Colorado Springs.
- Amy Adams (Enchanted, Arrival) went to high school in Castle Rock.
- Pam Grier (Jackie Brown, Coffy) is from the Denver area.
- Hattie McDaniel (Gone with the Wind, Song of the South) went to Denver East High School.
- Dalton Trumbo (Johnny Got His Gun, Spartacus) was born in Montrose.
- John Heder (Napoleon Dynamite, Benchwarmers) is from Fort Collins.
- Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks) was raised in Boulder.
- Tim Allen (Toy Story, Home Improvement) was born in Denver.
An extensive list of the 150 films with Colorado ties can be found on the CO150 Film Fest website under the Top 150 tab.
DuRay, Smith and Giordano originally come from all over the country, but all three of them share one focus: community through film. The most important part of the big screen?
“It’s what you take with you,” says Giordano.
Find films, screenings and details at colorado150film.com.
Find more ways to celebrate America and Colorado in America 250 – Colorado 150 Celebrates All Year.
CO150 Film Participating Locations Include:
- Colorado Springs: Ent Center for the Arts, Lulu’s Downtown, Pioneers Museum
- Denver: Sie Film Center and other locations
- Grand Junction: Avalon Theater
- Durango: multiple venues
- Pagosa Springs: multiple venues
- Cortez: Sunflower
- Mancos: Mancos Opera House
- Pueblo: multiple venues
- Boulder: Boedecker Theater
- Steamboat: Wildhorse Cinema
- Fort Collins: The Lyric
- Lamar: Lamar Theater
- Breckenridge: Eclipse
- Center: Frontier Drive-Inn
- Ouray: Wright Opera House
- Silverton: Silverton Powerhouse
- Flagler: Flagler Theatre
- Fort Morgan: Cover 4 Theater
- Limon: Lincoln Theater
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Greeley: The Kress Cinema
