Full schedule
An interactive schedule of events and showings is available at biff1.com.
The Boulder International Film Festival will feature 55 films this year, including six films from the Sundance Film Festival and two feature-length music documentaries that will open and close the festival.
Tickets and passes went on sale on Friday.
In addition to the events in Boulder Feb. 28 through March 3, BIFF also will take the activities north. A lineup of films also is slated for March 1-3 in Longmont and March 8-9 in Fort Colllins.
The festival is now in its 15th year, and organizers say the festival generally draws about 25,000 people. It features not only feature-length and short films but food, events for kids, a virtual reality film experience and an after-hours party for adults.
The festival opens on Feb. 28 with a red carpet gala, including pre-film parties at the Hotel Boulderado and Rembrandt Yard Art Gallery followed by a showing of ” David Crosby: Remember my Name,” a feature length documentary at the Boulder Theater.
Crosby, famous for his work with The Byrds, is expected to appear in person along with director A.J. Eaton at the opening night event. Individual tickets for opening night a have sold out, but early bird festival passes were still available on Friday.
The documentary is one of several films coming to Boulder from the Sundance Film Festival.
Actor and Director Emilio Estevez is expected to make a red carpet appearance on March 2 at the Boulder Theater for a screening of his film “The Public.” Estevez will be receiving the festival’s Vanguard Award and will participate in a question-and-answer session. Tickets were still available as of Friday.
” The Public,” which Estevez wrote, directed and stars in, concerns two public librarians in Cincinnati, who encounter a group of homeless people who decide to shelter inside the library for the night as a bitter winter storm passes through the area.
The festival weekend will close on March 3 with a screening of music documentary “Echo in the Canyon” at the Boulder Theater that will include an appearance by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan, who will talk about the film and participate in a question-and-answer session.
“Echo in The Canyon,” directed by Andrew Slater, former president and CEO of Capitol Records, examines how The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Mamas & The Papas set the stage for the Laurel Canyon music scene that influenced other musicians in the 1960s and beyond.
Festival organizers are awarding the best feature length film with a $10,000 prize and a $3,000 prize for best short. The award ceremony happens on closing night.
The festival is also hosting a Youth Pavilion at the Boulder Public Library March 1 to March 3 that will feature, among other events, a cell phone movie making workshop, animation workshop, augmented reality events and a zombie make up workshop.
Festival highlights:
The Biggest Little Farm
10 a.m. March 1, Boulder Theater
USA, feature documentary, 2018, 91 minutes
A young urban couple gets booted from their L.A. apartment and buys a rundown, 200-acre farm that will not even grow weeds. They consult a Zen-farming expert who suggests a fantasy-utopian farm. When the farm’s ecosystem finally begins to reawaken, so does the couple’s hope. As their plan to create perfect harmony takes a series of wild turns, they realize that to survive they must reach a far greater understanding of the wisdom of nature, and of life itself.
The Hummingbird Project
7:45 p.m. March 1, Boulder Theater
USA, feature film, 2018, 111 minutes
New York cousins Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton (Alexander Skarsgard) are players in the high-stakes game of high-frequency trading. Vincent the hustler and Anton the brains push each other and everyone around them in their quest to attain the ultimate American Dream, and clash with their rapacious former boss, Eva Torres (Salma Hayek). Racing against time, the cousins move mountains to get rich faster, only to find redemption and renewal at the end of the line.
The Mustang (Direct to BIFF from Sundance 2019)
12:30 p.m. March 3, Boulder Theater
USA/France, feature film, 2019, 97 minutes
Roman (Matthias Schoenaerts), a convict in a prison in rural Nevada, participates in a rehabilitation program in which he trains wild mustangs. He struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates alike. But in time, working alongside young convict Henry (Jason Mitchell) and an old trainer, Myles (Bruce Dern), Roman soothes an especially feisty horse and confronts his own violent past.
You Are Here: A Come From Away Story
10 a.m. March 2, Boulder High School
Canada, feature documentary, 2018, 84 minutes
U.S. Premiere
The big heart of the little town of Gander, Newfoundland was revealed when 38 airliners carrying 7,000 passengers were forced to land at their airport after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Although the Ganderites struggled with dozens of new languages, they were ingenious in solving huge logistical problems. Among other things, the film pulls back the emotional layers surrounding the five days that the community housed, fed and took care of the dislocated passengers — the “come-from-aways” in Newfoundland parlance.
CineCHEF 2019 — “BadAss Women Chefs: Denver vs. Boulder”
5 to 7 p.m. March 1, Rembrandt Yard
CineCHEF is a BIFF signature event that challenges nationally recognized Front Range chefs to create film-inspired dishes based on a movie theme. New this year, BIFF will feature an all-women lineup of culinary stars competing for the coveted Festival foodie prize. Details: biff1.com/cinechef
John Bear: 303-473-1355, bearj@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/johnbearwithme
