Opening night attendees of the 26th Starz Denver International Film Festival enjoy a reception prior to the screening the “The Human Stain”. The reception and screening were held at the Buell Theatre Oct. 9.

Opening nights are always played out to be grandiose events, and the audience seemed to take note of this. Decked out in their best black suits and dresses, the attendees appeared ready for a fancy play rather than a movie shockingly-rooted in the brutality of humanity. But, what film festival could open without a few words from the elite responsible for putting the event together.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Denver Film Society, Tom Botelho, opened the 26th Starz Denver International Film Festival, welcoming everyone to the festival as well as introducing and thanking the nearly 100 sponsors of the event. The audience was then entertained with a comedic short featuring a prominent, independent film director in a stereotypical, yuppie, indie-director mood, criticizing the commercialism of Hollywood while constantly surrounded by the different logos and products of the festival's sponsors.

John Sie, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Starz! Encore Group, praised the amount and diversity of the films (nearly 200 with the shortest film at 50 seconds, the longest at 300-plus minutes) and encouraged everyone to enjoy the festival.

Denver Film Society Artistic Director Ron Henderson justified his title by giving the festival its truly proper christening.

"Our 26th year literally sparkles with cinematic treasures from every corner of the world," Henderson said.

But by then the audience was ready to experience the upcoming-major motion picture release they had come to see.

Opening night festivities of the 26th Starz Denver International Film Festival took place at the Buell Theatre Oct. 9. A number of the films for this year’s festival sold out before the festival began.

"The Human Stain," based on the book of the same name by Philip Roth, is a powerful film that will make it hard for the Academy not to take notice. The eternally-brilliant Anthony Hopkins stars as the slightly-cynical Coleman Silk, whose career as a college professor at a prestigious university comes to an end after unintentionally using the word "spooks," to describe two missing students, who just happened to be African-American, and outraged at his use of the once-racist term. This event sets up for the irony of the fact that Silk is a light-skinned black man who has made his way to the top passing as a Jewish white man, which is later revealed through flashbacks to emotional scenes with his family.

Wentworth Miller, who was in attendance at the film, plays the young Silk, struggling with his racial identity amidst the 1930's and 40's. He turns in some of the most compelling scenes in the film, setting up the background influences for Hopkins' Silk. With only two films under his belt, Miller, a cross between Tobey Maguire and Hayden Christensen, has a promising career.
But perhaps the most genuine human element comes with Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman), a witty, but fragile cleaning lady Silk falls for after the death of his wife. In the meantime, secluded writer Nathan Zuckerman, played by the sly Gary Senise, takes in Silk's experiences after befriending him when he's approached about writing Silk's life story. Kidman really believes in her character's frailty and beauty and it comes across on screen as her best performance after several lackluster movies. Hopkins' character gradually comes to realize his flaws and his basic truths in his relationship with Farley, which also grows from lustful connection to a real bond of two human hearts.

But to throw some fire in the mix is Lester Farley (Ed Harris), Faunia's mentally unstable ex-husband who's constantly blaming her for the death of their children. Harris tries to scare the audience with his character, but probably succeeds more in angering and disturbing viewers with a tortured soul.

Director Robert Benton, the man behind the Academy-Award-winning "Kramer vs. Kramer," thrives to remind the audience of the characters' human frailty, without making them look pathetic. The success of "The Human Stain" lies in the actors' capability to remain enthralling no matter the fastball pitched at them. This could be the result of proper character development on the screenwriter's part, but the performances speak volumes more.

In a year of lackluster gimmick films and shallow blockbusters and sequels, Henderson and his crew were really wise in picking "The Human Stain" to open DIFF's 26th year.

We'll see if it's the cinematic anecdote to the mainstream movie scene for 2003 when the film hits theaters nation-wide at the end of the month.

Local filmaker William Brown is featured in The Starz internationsl film festivals’ Colorado independents: Fiction. Brown’s film “Never Meant” was about a man who deals with the ending of a very long and passionate relationship whom he still loves.

Beauty and talent abound in Colorado, according to the directors of the six local independent films shown during the Starz international Film Festival on Monday, October 13th.

Seven short films were shown as part of the Colorado Independents: Fiction screening. Six of the seven films were made in Colorado.

“Getting locations was difficult,” said William L. Brown, director of Never Meant. Brown’s film is based on actual events. The protagonist reflects on a very passionate and lengthy relationship while he deals with the loss of a woman he still loves. The script was “never meant to be written” but Brown finished it in four hours.  He filmed Never Meant in Colorado over a couple of days.

Jesus’ Day Off is the improvised darling of Writer, Editor, and Performer Jeff Nicholson. He began filmmaking a little late in life, after beginning his cinematic career as an actor, and has had a great experience getting permission for filming on location in Colorado. “For me, a huge part of the movie is getting that pristine or that prime location,” Nicholson said.

“I think that more and more people are finding that Colorado’s a much better place to be than most of the critical film centers,” Damon Berger, director of Shattered said. The talent of potential cast and crew in Colorado appeals to Berger, while news is the inspiration for his film. Shattered (a black and white one-woman drama), was inspired by the recent report of a woman who hit a man and drove home with his body in her windshield.           

Breaking News is a film about a man obsessed with CNN and other news networks. Director Joshua Sapir was inspired to create the film when he noticed the barrage of information about terror threats following the wake of 9/11. Sapir recognized that television news broadcasts create the perfect storm for a character to endure in a short independent film. As for shooting in Colorado, Sapir is pleased to report there is “good weather usually,” and intends to further his directing career in the state.

Some independent films are improvised. Some independent films are written by the hand of a distraught lover, or a director with an eye for news. Whether permission for film is hard to come by, or easy to obtain, Colorado is an ideal location for fabricating fictitious films on a low budget.

Reviews:

‘Bus 174’ a tense look Brazillian economic disparity
by Jeana Warren

“Bus 174,” a 133-minute look at the life of a young Brazilian street kid, is an emotional social commentary. Director Jose Padilha undertook the project, awarded “Best Documentary” at the 2002 Sao Paulo Film Festival, after the hijacking of Rio de Janeiro Bus 174 captured the country’s attention.

The travesty of what is now known in Rio as the Bus 174 incident was witnessed by millions of Brazilians as it unfolded on television. Director Padilha included in the film previously aired footage and appropriately wooven into the story the biography of the troubled young highjacker, Sandro de Nascimento.

Nascimento was a severely troubled 21-year-old who had lived on the streets since age 6, and had been in and out of the over-crowded and ineffective Rio jail system since the age of 16.

The stories of his past and commentaries of his friends offer a raw and sympathetic look at the reality of police brutality, and the social and inner distress of many homeless persons.

Director Padilha strikes a satisfying tension by pairing the views of affluent Brazilians and those of street kids. Deeply poignant reflections, and recognition that there is no black and white combine into a touching and revealing portrait.

“Bus 174” is slated to be shown at the Tivoli Starz Film Center Dec. 12 – 18.

‘A Bibo Reader’: cinematography saves an otherwise bad film
by Jeana Warren

Leaving the theater after the screening of “A Bibo Reader,” I began to puzzle over the metaphorical and haphazard pacing of the movie. I watched as audience members more polite than I threw away rating ballots, presumably with the higher motive of casting aside memory along with the paper. Finally, I solved the riddle: I had stayed awake thanks to the cinematographic excellence of Laszlo Razasz Jr. Were it not for Razasz, director/producer Peter Forgacs would have found his audience one person fewer.

Cinematographer Razasz used artistically layered imagery to evoke emotion and add symbolic elements to director Peter Forgacs’ intonations about Hungarian society in the early to mid-1940s. As social commentary, the cinematography was far more reaching than the often too-deep-to-make- sense-of anecdotes presented orally.

Forgacs’ main difficulty is an inability to connect his focus with the subject of his documentary. Istvan Bibo, who, when quoted, adds a startling moment of meaning, was a radical politician who held office in Hungary and served time in prison for supplying Jews with fake documents during the Holocaust. Unfortunately, Forgacs missed capturing the power of this story by indulging his own misguided tendencies to philosophize and over-generalize.

‘I am David’ presented in a tight package, including a predictable ending
by Sharon Alley

“I am David” is based on the wonderful young-adult book “North to Freedom,” written by Danish author Anne Holm. Based in 1952, this movie offers a tale of an unusual 12-year-old boy, David, who has grown up in a prison camp in Bulgaria. He is helped to escape from the camp by a sympathetic prison guard who becomes unable to protect him any further. The guard provides him with a compass, pocketknife, small bar of soap, a half-loaf of bread and a sealed letter to deliver to Denmark.

The movie spins the tale of the young boy’s ensuing journey and is told in typical Hollywood style. Armed with these meager possessions, it portrays David is portrayed as an intelligent but vulnerable young innocent evading re-capture by evil, heavily armed soldiers, dodging interference from well-meaning but misinformed adults and suffering through an attack by a bullying schoolboy as he tries to single-handedly fulfill his mission.

The viewer is guided through the story by David’s repeated flashbacks containing violent scenes as well as pertinent clues for the viewer. The story is neatly and tightly wrapped up within its 95 minutes.     The show was enjoyable and somewhat predictable. Unfortunately, the limitations of the movie format forced the director, Paul Feig, to make hard choices when translating the original book onto the screen. 

Time considerations forced out some character-forming events and totally eliminated most of the intense inner dialogue that David experiences in the book

I don’t think Feig delved deeply enough into the mental strengths the boy was forced to develop while living and surviving in the camp. His movie, in fact, did not match my original perceptions of the book at all, but perhaps my view would not match his, either.

I loved the book but merely liked the movie, and while I don’t agree with his interpretation, I do respect his efforts and welcome his rendition of the book to this year’s film festival.

The lighter side of love and life as seen through the eyes of of the blind in ‘A Heart Elsewhere’
by Clayton Woullard

Italian Director Pupi Avati must realize the world takes itself too seriously, especially when it comes to love and the trivialities of romance. With "A Heart Elsewhere," ("Il Cuore Altrove" in Italian) Avati exposes love with the shade of humor it deserves, as a constant pursuit by all.
"A Heart Elsewhere," which premiered in the United States at the Denver International Film Festival Oct. 10, finds the main character, Nello Balocchi (Neri Marcore), sent to Bologna from Rome to teach high school Greek and Latin, and to pursue long-awaited love and marriage. At 35, Nello remains a virgin and has never married. The beautiful Angela Gardini (Vanessa Incontrada) comes along to change all that when Nello falls for her right away. He's lucky in that she's blind (from some kind of accident), but there's a catch — her father forbids and warns against any romantic advances.

Nello falls right into Angela's hands, soon discovering he's involved in the rebound from her previous engagement to Parroco Santa Lucia (Cesare Cremonini) who is, nonetheless, not in favor of this new relationship. Angela's desperate avoidance and obvious pettiness adds to the humor of a situation in which shy Nello always has trouble making sense.

Set in a time between the two World Wars, it's often the small moments and unique characters, like Nello's roommate, Domenico Riccio (Nino D'Angelo), a barber who does nothing to help Nello's problems, who bring levity to the film. Nello's domineering father Cesare Balocchi (Giancarlo Giannini), a tailor to the Pope and less-than-faithful husband, adds some humanity to the story, although it's hard to get the image of his disemboweled Florence detective in "Hannibal" hanging in the night air, out of my head.

Cesare also presents a conflict for Nello when he finally meets Angela and is not too pleased to find out she's blind. While Nello's parents' reaction is one of the most humorous scenes in the film, the sympathy you've developed already for Nello only deepens as his parents refuse to sign off on his first true love.

Director Avati, who's written, produced and directed over 30 films, fielded a few questions from the audience with what he called "bad English," in lieu of "beautiful Italian."
When asked of the inspiration for "A Heart Elsewhere," Avati cited an experience with his mother.

"A lot of my movies were written because of my mother," he said. "In Bologna she would tell us about the country and how the blind lived in a house with the nuns. She told of how some of the men would ride in on their bicycles and come to dance with these blind women. I started writing a script about these types of men."

Avati told of how he got into his movie career after an unsuccessful career as a jazz musician, but his love for jazz music would later play a part in his filmmaking.

"With the camera, this instrument, I've been able to tell about my experiences in life, about my memories, about my family and about jazz music," he said.

In 1990, Avati made a movie about his favorite jazz musician Leon Bix Beiderbecke, leading him to send a letter to the governor of Iowa. He asked to make a movie about Beiderbecke, who made his home in Davenport, Iowa, in a house Avati has since renovated as a historical museum dedicated to the musician.

While Avati is not afraid to admit his mistakes, citing an international film he made which was "a great flop," he noted the reason his latest film is a success, in Italy and several of the other 26 countries where it's been distributed.

"The quality of the acting, I think, is good," he said. "They're put in a very familiar situation and the descriptions in the script were very clear."