Films / Programs

New Directors Showcase

The Starz Denver Film Festival has become known for its focus on Emerging (first and second time) film directors. This year's New Directors Showcase includes animated films, as well as narratives from around the world.

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  Cinema Q: The Lost Coast

  USA , 2008 , 74 min. The Lost Coast examines the remnants of a love triangle among three old high-school friends who reunite one Halloween night in San Francisco. On a quest to score Ecstasy, they instead confront increasing sexual confusion, guilt, and longing.... more
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  Cook County

  USA , 2008 , 93 min. A visceral study of the methamphetamine plague in rural America, Cook County tells the story of drug manufacturer-slash-addict Bump, whose downward spiral threatens to destroy his family. Can teenaged Abe prevent the seemingly inevitable?... more
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  The Eternal City

  Italy , 2008 , 93 min. Suffused with the gentle spirit of postwar Italian cinema, this romantic dramedy follows a twenty-something American through Rome as he searches for love—only to stumble into a love triangle. The Eternal City itself costars in vivid black and white.... more
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  Finally, Lillian and Dan

  USA , 2007 , 97 min. In the engaging love story Finally, Lillian and Dan, director Mike Gibisser uses the closely observed minutiae of everyday existence to reveal the tantalizingly slow progress two isolated souls make toward connection.... more
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  The Guitar

  USA , 2008 , 95 min. In The Guitar, Amy Redford’s first feature, a diagnosis of terminal throat cancer sends meek Melody Wilder (Saffron Burrows) into a frenzy of indulgence, during which she buys herself a classic red Fender guitar—and experiences life for the first time.... more
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  Natural Causes

  USA , 2008 , 91 min. After both a six-day fling and a year-long relationship, a twenty-something tries to make sense of the ephemeral nature of love. Three writer-directors drew from their own painful experiences to develop a nonlinear plot as compelling as their visual style.... more
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  The New Year Parade

  USA , 2008 , 87 min. In this unsentimental kitchen-table drama set against the background of the annual Mummers Parade, the divorce of a Philadelphia couple leaves their teenaged daughter and twenty-something son grappling with painful doubts about love.... more
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  One Book, One Denver FREE Film Series: Wendy And Lucy

  USA , 2008 , 80 min. Screens Monday, September 26th at 7pm - FREE Screening as part of One Book, One Denver's Community Events 35mm presentation - Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) gives a powerful breakout performance in this feminine variation on Into the Wild. Wendy Carroll (Williams) is d... more
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  Sex Is No Laughing Matter

  Japan , 2007 , 137 min. Yuri, an art school teacher, initiates an affair with Mirume, a student half her age, in this mischievous study of the affairs of love. When she disappears, Mirume’s friend En steps in to drive a narrative that blurs the line between farce and drama.... more
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  Sita Sings the Blues

  USA , 2008 , 82 min. MUST END Thursday, July 16 35mm presentation - A feminist spoof of the ancient Hindu epic The Ramayana, Sita Sings the Blues uses a rich blend of visual styles to wed the story of a modern-day marital split to the saga of the goddess Sita, abandoned by her husband Rama. With f... more
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  The Toe Tactic

  USA , 2008 , 90 min. In her feature debut, Emily Hubley (daughter of pioneer animators Faith and John Hubley) weaves live action and animation into a free-form, cinepoetic narrative of loss and discovery involving a young woman in mourning—and some wisecracking cartoon dogs.... more
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  Wellness

  USA , 2007 , 90 min. Crafted on a less-than-shoestring budget from the improvisations of nonprofessional actors, this American tragedy centers on a Willy Lomanesque salesman who gives everything he’s got to a pyramid scheme that ends in his ruin.... more
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  Woodpecker

  USA , 2008 , 87 min. Gently mocking the hoopla surrounding reported sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker (chronicled more seriously in Lord God Bird, also in this year’s festival), this mock-doc follows the desperate quest of a crazed birdwatcher to find the avian legend.... more