CO150 Film Festival a statewide celebration of Colorado cinema

Denver Film and Switchboard Strategy have unveiled the program for the CO150 Film Festival, a statewide summer-long celebration of Colorado cinema timed to the state’s 150th birthday on Aug. 1.

Billed as Denver Film’s first-ever statewide festival, CO150 will mount 150 screenings at more than 35 independent and community-based venues across Colorado, drawn from a list of the top 150 films either shot in the state, set in the state, or made by Coloradans.

The program opens with sundown screenings of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on Sat., May 23 at the Frontier Drive-In in Center, followed in the weeks ahead by City Slickers, 127 Hours, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Shining, Stagecoach, A League of Their Own, Dumb & Dumber, BlacKkKlansman, The Hateful Eight, True Grit, Dr. Strangelove, About Schmidt, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and dozens more through the summer.

Participating venues span the state, including the Sie FilmCenter in Denver, the Boedecker Theater at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, the Lyric Theater in Fort Collins, The Kress Cinema in Greeley, Lulu’s Downtown in Colorado Springs, the Avalon in Grand Junction, the Durango Arts Center, the Mancos Opera House, the Wright Opera House in Ouray, the Liberty Theater in Pagosa Springs, BloBack Gallery and Impossible Playhouse in Pueblo, the Wildhorse Cinema in Steamboat Springs, Sunflower in Cortez, Three Springs in Durango, The Lamar in Lamar, Eclipse in Breckenridge, the Flagler Theater, Lincoln Theater in Limon, and Red Rocks in Morrison.

Each screening will be preceded by short films, music videos and presentations from Colorado filmmakers, artists, critics and other creative workers — a feature organizers have emphasized as central to the program’s intent.

“The CO150 is a fun, accessible way to combine our love of movies and our state to celebrate 150 years of Colorado history,” Switchboard CEO Rob DuRay said in announcing the program. “By showing selections from the CO150 in a slew of diverse and hyper-local venues, we will open the sesquicentennial to Coloradans across the state.”

The festival is presented by Denver Film in partnership with Switchboard Strategy, with collaboration from Downtown Colorado and the Boettcher Foundation. Industry voting from local film programmers and theater managers shaped the top 150 list; audiences can continue to weigh in by voting for additional Colorado-related favorites at the festival’s website.

Tickets and venue-specific details are available through each participating venue. The full schedule is at colorado150film.com.