FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Denver Film Media Contacts:
Marty Schechter: marty@schechterpr.com, 303-882-4585
Colorado Spotlight Film Assets
DENVER – Sept. 22, 2025 – Denver Film announced today its lineup of feature films, as well as documentary and narrative shorts selected for inclusion in the Colorado Spotlight section of the 48th Denver Film Festival (DFF48) taking place Oct. 31 – Nov. 9, 2025 at venues across the Denver-metro area including the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Botanic Gardens and the MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater.
“Programming the Colorado Shorts section of our annual festival is an absolute blast,” said Denver Film Festival Programming Manager, Ambriehl Turrentine. “We’ve got just about everything – wild horrors, clever comedies, imaginative sci-fi, mind-blowing animation – all produced right here in Colorado. And the best part is the community. There’s a wonderful mix of DFF alumni and first-time filmmakers, all bringing bold, fearless storytelling to the screen. I’m beyond excited to share these productions with our audiences and look forward to feeling the energy throughout these screenings. It’s going to be memorable in the best ways possible.”
Showcasing the work of filmmakers and stories with direct ties to the state of Colorado, the lineup of 19 films includes five features, five documentary shorts and nine narrative shorts demonstrating a powerful range of local stories and those from homegrown filmmakers.
Feature films include Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana’s Backside, a vérité portrait of immigrant laborers behind elite racehorses; Vickie Curtis and Doug Anderson’s award-winning Comparsa, where art confronts gender violence in Guatemala; Creede U.S.A. by Kahane Corn Cooperman, capturing life and identity in the small Colorado mountain town; Boulder-based Oscar-winner Daniel Junge’s I Was Born This Way, honoring Motown singer-turned-minister Carl Bean; and Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding, set in wildfire-scarred southwestern Colorado.
Colorado-made shorts span nonfiction and narrative, from intimate portraits of queer rodeo riders, Indigenous dance as healing, and sisters redefining ranching, to imaginative journeys through space, satire, horror, hand-drawn animation, and surreal comedy. Together, these films highlight the creativity, resilience, and storytelling vision of Colorado’s filmmakers and communities.
Backside
Director: Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana
Backside offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of immigrant workers who rise at 2 a.m., seven days a week, to care for some of the world’s most prized racehorses. Set during a racing season at Churchill Downs’ barns in Louisville, Kentucky—known as the ‘backside’—this observational film captures the symbiotic bond between human and animal labor, honoring the quiet beauty of unseen work and the resilience of those who sustain it.
Colorado Note: Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana is a Denver based director.
Comparsa
Directors: Vickie Curtis, Doug Anderson
In response to a tragedy that claimed the lives of 41 girls in a Guatemalan “Safe Home,” two sisters channel their grief into an act of defiance by using towering puppets, fire, and performance to confront gender violence. This Colorado-produced documentary documents their defiance and the healing that can come through art making. Honored at Sheffield DocFest with the International First Feature Award, Comparsa affirms how creativity can transform grief into strength and survival.
Colorado Note: Director/Producer Vickie Curtis and Producer Olivia Ahnemann are Boulder based filmmakers.
Creede U.S.A.
Director: Kahane Corn Cooperman
Welcome to Creede, Colorado—a 300-person mining town at 9,000 feet—where ranchers, miners, and a repertory theater company share the same main street. This documentary weaves together multiple storylines, from the theater that reshaped the town’s economy and brought cosmopolitan audiences into a conservative community, to the next generation navigating questions of identity, including a trans student at the local school. With humor and heart, it presents Creede as a surprising microcosm of America, where deep divides and unexpected solidarities coexist.
Colorado Note: Shot on location in Creede, Colorado.
I Was Born This Way
Directors: Daniel Junge, Sam Pollard
A film honoring the life and legacy of Archbishop Carl Bean, the Motown singer turned minister whose 1977 anthem I Was Born This Way became a groundbreaking declaration of queer pride. Directed by Academy Award winner Daniel Junge alongside Sam Pollard, it blends archival footage, animation, and interviews with cultural icons to honor Bean’s music, ministry, activism, and his resounding message that “love is for everyone.”
Colorado Note: Oscar Winning director Daniel Junge is based in Boulder, Colorado. Multiple producers and executive producers are Colorado based. Junge is also a multi DFF alum.
Rebuilding
Director: Max Walker-Silverman
Set in the aftermath of a devastating wildfire near Durango in southwestern Colorado, Dusty (Josh O’Connor), a cowboy who loses his family ranch, drifts into a FEMA trailer park on the edge of town. There, he reconnects with his young daughter and ex-wife while finding kinship with neighbors who also lost everything, forming an unlikely community. Directed by Colorado filmmaker Max Walker-Silverman (A Love Song), Rebuilding conveys love, and the possibility of starting over in luminous golden-hour footage.
Colorado Note: Shot in southwestern Colorado. Director Max Walker-Silverman is Colorado based.
COLORADO SHORTS: DOCUMENTARY
All locally-produced films
The American Stanza
Director: Shaffer J. Nickel
An exploration of the devastating beauty found in the rhythms of everyday life.
Into the Chutes
Director: Jenna Rice
Lee Knight, a Queer, Black, non-binary bull rider, confronts injury and adversity while pursuing their dream of competing in the Colorado Gay Rodeo circuit.
For the People
Director: Dewi Sungai
In this visually experimental documentary, Thomas Yellow Horse Davis and his wife Kimberly reflect on the life experiences that taught them that dance is not performance but prayer, medicine for generational trauma, and a vital part of reclaiming Indigenous sovereignty on stolen land.
Colorado Note: Dewi Sungai’s previous film My Name Is Not Amy screened at DFF 47
Cow Sense
Director: Keely Kernan
Set against the open landscapes of Colorado, Cow Sense follows three sisters who carve out lives for themselves within the male-dominated world of ranching. With grit and humor, the film observes how they navigate the physical demands of the land while pushing against traditional gender roles, offering an intimate portrait of resilience, sisterhood, and belonging.
Colorado Note: Director Keely Kernan is an Assistant Teaching Professor at University of Colorado Boulder
Moving Line
Director: Cameron Wyatt
Three amateur skiers attempt to cross Colorado for the first time, tracing a historic route through snowbound terrain. What begins as a physical challenge evolves into a source of creative inspiration, as the journey reshapes how they see the landscape and their own work as artists.
COLORADO SHORTS: NARRATIVE
All locally-produced films
Echo Equinox
Director: Jack Cosgriff
Echo Equinox follows an astronaut marooned at the edge of the universe, transcending time and space in a surreal journey for their partner Nova, blurring the lines between reality, memory, and imagination.
Colorado Note: Director Jack Cosgriff’s previous film Kino Kopf screened at DFF 47
Animal Math
Director: Robbie C. Ward
Created over seven years with thousands of hand-drawn cutouts and painted backgrounds, Animal Math is a mesmerizing fantasia in which a young girl discovers the vastness of her inner world, confronting strange monsters, a book of secret paintings, and a mysterious spectral mountain.
The House of Pussy
Director: Fiona Lynette McNeal
In The House of Pussy, Laura, a woman approaching middle age, is checked into a bizarre rehab facility that “re-educates” women suffering from love addiction, reshaping them into so-called perfect partners for men. A darkly satirical short, it exposes the absurdity of control disguised as cure.
Party Demon
Directors: Preston Tompkins, Zach Reinert
A rookie exorcist (Stephen Agyei, Abbott Elementary) faces off with a demon (Ben Bryant, Adult Swim) whose only demand is to make a new friend. A comic twist on the horror genre, this short turns possession into an unlikely party invitation.
Potluck
Director: Matt Sandoval
In Potluck, a young Black man finds himself trapped in a workplace nightmare, forced through a series of escalating racist encounters. His only way out is to conform to the corporate machine, in a searing allegory of systemic oppression.
The Call
Director: Kelly Sears
Filmed over three years at airports across the United States, The Call is an eco-revenge film where unlikely instigators rise against decades of destruction. Urgent and unsettling, it transforms observation into a stark call to action.
Colorado Note: Director Kelly Sears’s previous films The Lost Season (2024) and Phase II (2023) screened at DFF. Sears is an Associate Professor and Director of the Brakhage Center at University of Colorado Boulder
A Knock in the Dark
Director: Estee Fox Bershof
On a snowy night, a girl faces a silent predator while another presence chooses not to help. Rendered in hand-drawn animation, A Knock in the Dark is a fable of complicity, moral choice, and the cost of inaction.
Silent Generation
Director: Francisco Solorzano
An octogenarian discovers horror in the everyday when a routine load of laundry turns unexpectedly bloody.
I Love You and I Am Going to Fix You
Director: Bruce Tetsuya
Based on true events in 1990s Denver, a young couple uncovers a disturbing anomaly inside a sushi restaurant.
Colorado Note: Director Bruce Tetsuya previous films Procession (2024), There is Light in Us (2023), Aria (2022), Drowning (producer, 2022), and Embers (2021) have screened at DFF.
The DFF48 Colorado Spotlight Section is presented by Colorado Office of Film and Television, Mary Watson, Rocky Mountain Public Media, and Colorado Public Radio.
The full DFF48 program will be announced October 4 with tickets to individual screenings, panels and parties on sale to Denver Film members Oct. 5, and to the general public on Oct. 6 at: www.denverfilm.org/.
DFF48 ticket packs and passes are on sale at www.denverfilm.org/.
Member Non-Member
Member 5 Pack $65 (GA) Member only
Member 10 Pack $125 (GA) Member only
Member 20 Pack $240 (GA) Member only
The Brit Pass $90 $115 (see website for package details)
Mile High Pass $300 $400 (see website for package details)
The Ellwood Pass $750 $1,000 (see website for package details)
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DFF48 Sponsors (as of Sept. 22, 2025)
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Additional Thanks To
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About Denver Film
Denver Film has been transforming and entertaining the Colorado community through the power of diverse voices in film since 1978. Operating as the region’s only membership-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit film institution, Denver Film has grown into a signature cultural organization in the West, screening international and independent movies found nowhere else in the region.
Serving more than 160,000 patrons annually through 600-plus screenings that include year-round programming at Denver Film’s flagship home the Sie (pronounced SEE) FilmCenter, the annual Denver Film Festival celebration, the iconic Film on the Rocks program at Red Rocks Amphitheater, and Spotlight Festivals including CinemaQ, Women+Film, and the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival. Spotlights highlight underrepresented communities and foster inclusivity. Denver Film works to build resilience across all of its programming and events by amplifying diverse voices, promoting equity, and fostering community connections.
