Aspen Filmfest returns Sept. 29-Oct. 4 with Sundance and Cannes winners, filmmaker Q&As and screenings in Aspen and Carbondale.
Some film festivals ask audiences to choose among a dozen screenings happening at once. Aspen Filmfest takes a different approach.
For its 47th edition, running Tuesday, Sept. 29, through Sunday, Oct. 4, Aspen Film has assembled a compact program of international festival winners, documentaries, award seasons hopefuls and filmmaker conversations, with nearly everything screening at the Aspen Isis Theatre. The festival also returns down valley this year with encore screenings on Sunday at the Crystal Theatre in Carbondale.
Here is what to know before heading to Filmfest.
Start with the cowgirls
Opening night belongs to Cheyenne, screening at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, with director Taimi Arvidson participating in a Q&A. The documentary follows women competing on the rodeo circuit as they pursue a championship at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Wednesday, Sept. 30, offers four dramatically different choices. Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Nuisance Bear, at noon, examines the increasingly complicated relationship among polar bears, wildlife officers, tourists and Inuit communities in Churchill, Manitoba, as climate change disrupts longstanding migration patterns.
At 2:30 p.m., documentary filmmakers Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff’s new film Give Me The Ball! about Billie Jean King screens. Then at 5 p.m., it’s onto the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner Minotaur, about a wealthy Russian businessman who suspects his wife is cheating.
Later that evening, Love of Your Life stars Margaret Qualley as a nurse whose romance and subsequent grief send her into a life of self-imposed wandering. Rachel Morrison directs a cast that also includes Aaron Pierre, Catherine Keener, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Gabriel Basso.
Cannes winners and cosmic questions
Thursday, Oct. 1, begins with Fatherland, Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cannes Best Director winner about writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika returning to Germany in 1949 after 16 years in exile. Sandra Hüller stars in the historical drama about a family — and a country — wrestling with the aftermath of Nazism.
For documentary fans, the 2:30 p.m. screening of Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff offers a portrait of the astronomer who became one of science’s great popular communicators. Director Nanette Burstein draws on archival footage and interviews to explore both Sagan’s public influence and private life. At 5 p.m. A Bit of Light, about a Tehran doctor who is arrested for treating protesters, makes its North American premiere. Thursday concludes with a yet-to-be-revealed surprise screening at 8 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 2, starts with two documentaries: Jean-Michel Basquiat at 11:30 a.m. and Time Warp at 2 p.m. At 5 p.m., Josephine makes its Colorado premiere after winning both the dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance. Beth de Araújo’s film stars newcomer Mason Reeves as an 8-year-old who witnesses a violent assault, with Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum playing her parents. Producer David Kaplan will participate in a Q&A following the screening.
Those looking for something considerably lighter can return at 8 p.m. for Burgundy, a documentary from The Truffle Hunters filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw exploring the traditions, personalities and exclusivity surrounding France’s famed wine region.
Saturday brings some of the biggest titles
Saturday, Oct. 3, opens with the Colorado premiere of Queen at Sea, starring Juliette Binoche in a family drama about dementia, caregiving and autonomy. The film won the Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, along with a supporting performance award shared by Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall.
At 2 p.m., Why Religion? profiles Princeton scholar and longtime Aspen resident Elaine Pagels. Director Jenny Mackenzie and Pagels will participate in a Q&A, while Pagels will also appear earlier that afternoon at Explore Booksellers for a separate conversation and book signing.
The 5 p.m. selection, Fjord, arrives carrying the heaviest Cannes hardware: the Palme d’Or and FIPRESCI Prize. Christian Mungiu’s drama follows a Romanian Pentecostal family in Norway whose encounter with authorities escalates into a conflict over religion, family and competing cultural values. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve star.
The day concludes with The American Dream at 8 p.m., about two men who want to become NBA players’ agents.
On Sunday, Oct. 4, at a family matinee, Brave Cat, a film about a teenage forest cat searching for her missing mother alongside an abandoned puppy and aging circus bear, screens at noon. Adult tickets for the animated adventure are $10, while admission is free for anyone 17 and younger. Additionally, encore screenings will be held at The Crystal in Carbondale.
How much does Aspen Filmfest cost?
General admission is $35 per film and $20 for Aspen Film members. A $400 festival pass includes screenings, select events and festival discounts. Roaring Fork Valley students and teachers can attend Aspen screenings for free, although teachers must reserve in advance and students need a current school ID.
Doors open 20 minutes before showtime for passholders, 15 minutes before for Aspen Film members and 10 minutes before for general admission. Rush tickets may also become available immediately before screenings. Most Aspen Filmfest screenings take place at the Aspen Isis Theatre, 406 E. Hopkins Ave., making Filmfest unusually easy to navigate once you arrive.
