Denver Film Festival

The Denver Film Festival is the flagship program of Denver Film, a nonprofit arts organization that has anchored the city’s cinema culture since 1978. Founded that same year as one of the country’s earliest film festivals, DFF has spent nearly five decades building a reputation as Colorado’s premier showcase for international, independent, and emerging cinema.

The festival unfolds over eleven days each fall, drawing more than 40,000 attendees to screenings, Red Carpet presentations, and special events across Denver venues. Programming spans thought-provoking features, documentaries, and shorts from around the world, with a deliberate mix of work from established directors and filmmakers making their festival debuts. Filmmaker Q&As, panel discussions, workshops, and industry receptions round out the on-screen lineup and give the festival its reputation as both a public celebration and an industry gathering point.

The Denver Film Festival sits within a broader year-round slate run by Denver Film, which also operates the Sie FilmCenter on East Colfax, the organization’s home venue and one of the region’s key independent cinemas. Denver Film additionally produces the Women+Film Festival, the Denver Silent Film Festival, the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival, and the CinemaQ festival of LGBTQ+ cinema. The 49th edition of the Denver Film Festival runs October 22 through November 1, 2026.

Dates: Late October – early November, annually Host venue: Sie FilmCenter and partner venues, Denver Web: denverfilm.org