November 2008 - News from the Colorado Film Society and BIFF

Give the Gift of BIFF!

The Holiday Season is just around the corner. Looking for something unique to give that special person on your list? Something that’s smart, eco, local and lo-cal? How about a Boulder International Film Festival 09 Gift Certificate! On sale now in denominations of $50, $100, and $295 (VIP Pass!). Available at the Boulder Theater Box Office or by phone at call (303) 786-7030. For questions, call (303) 449-2289 or email kathy@biff1.com. Give the gift of BIFF this holiday season!

CFS World Cinema Day, Free for Teens! November 25th!

The next BIFF/Colorado Film Society World Cinema Day for students is November 25th, which is a no school day for students in the BVSD. The free film program will highlight the popular BIFF film "Beauty Mark" by Boulder’s own Diane Israel who will be in attendance for a Q & A after the film. This deeply personal and funny film examines culture’s toxic emphasis on women’s weight and looks as Ms. Israel tells her own story and interviews champion athletes, body builders, fashion models and inner-city teens about their experiences related to self-image. This courageous, powerful, poignant film is for anyone who has ever felt invisible because they didn’t conform to culture’s impossible, unhealthy beauty standards.

The event takes place at the Boulder Public Library and is intended for students 13 and up. The program starts at 1pm. Please call Catherine Lee at 303 449- 2283 or email catherine@biff1.com for more information. The Boulder Public Library is located at 1000 Canyon Boulevard (Corner of 9th and Canyon). Seating is limited, so please arrive early. See you there!

CFS receives Denver Foundation Grant!

BIFF/CFS recently received a grant from The Denver Foundation, the third grant from the Denver Foundation in our short five-year history. The grant helps to produce the Boulder International Film Festival, and also funds educational events held by the CFS throughout the year.

The Denver Foundation is a community foundation dedicated to improving life in Metro Denver through philanthropy, leadership, and strengthening the community. Community foundations are endowments - permanent pools of money contributed by donors to benefit a specific geographic area. In 2006, The Foundation awarded $37 million to nonprofit organizations.

The Colorado Film Society greatly appreciates the generous support of The Denver Foundation!

Boulder Adventure Film Festival: Nov 6 - 8

Inspiring World Class Film, Art and Environmental Activism. Surf monster waves in Liberia, climb sheer rock in the Alps, swim with Sharks! Get ready to feel the power of nature through film, lectures and hands- on participation. The Adventure Film Festival is the international arena for the best and most inspiring independent adventure films. Adventure Film is not bound by location, like a mountain, a river or an ocean. It is, however, inexorably tied to risk, the unknown, and those experiences that bring us to the edge of our seats with our hands over our eyes or our fists in the air.

For 2008, the Adventure Film selection committee has awarded twenty-five new films from over 170 entries on surfing climbing, biking, skiing, exploration and beyond. Included in this selection is our Environmental Film Series as well as our Kids and Family Adventure Films. These films tackle topics as broad as melting ice caps and polar bears to native land rights and clean water yet maintain a distinct theme of adventure. The festival features three days of motion pictures starting on Thursday the 6th and lasting into the night for an after-party on Saturday the 8th.

The festival weekend kicks off with a one of a kind Outdoor Filmmakers Workshop on Thursday, Nov 6th 5:30pm at the B-side on 14th Street. The Adventure Film Filmmakers Workshop is designed to tune the audience in to making outdoor films of their own. Four top outdoor filmmakers will lead discussions and flow through equipment and examples from 5:30 until 6:30PM. Immediately following the panel discussion, they’ll roll into another amazing Award-Winning feature Film. The main non-profit beneficiary of this year’s event is the Leave No Trace, an international non-profit dedicated to conscious recreation and environmental education.

For tickets, schedules & details about the Festival please visit: adventurefilm.org. Tickets only: bouldertheater.com. Or call: Jonny Copp, 303- 818-6402, or email jonny@adventurefilm.org.

Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival: Nov 7 - 9

The Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival will celebrate its 21st annual event the weekend of November 7th, 8th and 9th. Dedicated to celebrating the drive, spirit and diversity of women, it prides itself on offering the "best of the best" in documentary films by and about women. Friday’s night’s opening gala will be held at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, with films screened throughout the weekend at both the FAC and Colorado College’s Cornerstone Arts Center. For additional information, please go to rmwfilmfest.org or call 719-226-0450.

Starz Denver International Film Festival: Nov 13 - 23

The 2008 Starz Denver Film Festival has announced the schedule for the 11-day event which will be held Nov. 13-23 and feature 215 films from nearly 30 countries. In addition to the films, the schedule also features red carpet events, receptions, panel discussions and award presentations. Most screenings will be held at the Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli on the Auraria Campus, with special screenings at the King Academic and Performing Arts Center on the Auraria Campus and all red carpet events at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The full schedule is now available at denverfilm.org/festival/.

"We have spent the past year assembling a program of films, panels and special events that we believe offers something for everyone: something eye-opening, something moving, something provocative, something new," said Britta Erickson, SDFF director. "And, we are delighted that over 150 filmmakers and industry professionals will join us in Denver for our 11-day cinematic celebration."

More Great Films Free

Friday, November 7 - 7pm
Iron Ladies of Liberia
Directed by Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott-Johnson (Liberia/USA/Colorado - 2007)

How do you rebuild a country from zero after 14 brutal years of civil war? This film has one good answer-let women lead. With many of the men of the country missing or dead, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President of Liberia by an overwhelming majority of the country’s 1.3 million women voters, becoming the first woman ever elected head of state in Africa. But that was just the beginning. This funny, outspoken grandmother of six (with an MBA from Harvard) shook the country to its male- dominated foundations by appointing women to its most powerful positions, all the while facing mortal danger, not the least of which was the constant threat that brutal dictator Charles Taylor might return. This unforgettable film puts us in the room with President Sirleaf as she and her "Iron Ladies" forge a democratic African revolution. Winner of Best Colorado Film at the Boulder International Film Festival 08. (77 Minutes)

Friday, November 14 - 7pm>
The Singing Revolution>
Directed by Jim Tusty and Maureen Castle. (USA/Estonia /2007)

The New York Times writes of this film, "Imagine the scene in Casablanca in which the French patrons sing ’La Marseillaise’ in defiance of the Germans, then multiply its power by a factor of thousands, and you’ve only begun to imagine the force of The Singing Revolution. This is one of history’s most thrilling stories about how dozens of Estonian students in 1987 began gathering publicly and singing "forbidden" patriotic songs, about how those dozens became hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands. Finally in 1991, without a political party or a political leader, The Singing Revolution ended the crushing 40-year-long Soviet occupation of Estonia without the loss of a single life. Winner of the Boulder International Film Festival "Most Inspirational Film Award 2008" and dozens of awards from around the world. In English, Estonian and Russian with English subtitles (97 minutes).