The 2022 Crested Butte Film Festival returns in person and virtually, starting September 21. The festival features over 75 films, panel discussions, filmmaker talks and more.
Michael Brody, the festival's artistic and programming director, is also co-creator of the festival which is now in its twelfth year.
"So I went to Telluride (film festival) a number of years, Mountainfilm a number of years, and I would have gone to Telluride to start another film festival, but I thought they had it pretty well down there. And so I looked at Crested Butte, which to me is a similar kind of town, obviously it's closer to the Front Range, and it's probably 20 years behind Telluride, so it still has that kind of rustic Colorado element to it," said Brody.
"So in 2011, after about 10 months planning, my partner and I, Jen, we programmed over a hundred films at seven venues, and kicked it off."
Due to COVID, the festival went completely virtual in 2020 and returned the following year with a hybrid festival, with people attending in-person at the Crested Butte Center of the Arts while others attended virtually.
This year's festival will feature five days of in-person events starting September 21, with the virtual portion continuing through October 9.
Brody says the festival coincides with the opening of the Majestic Theater in Crested Butte which will screen some of the films.
"The good news was that just a month ago, a nonprofit reopened the Majestic Theater, so now we have a second screen, which just doubled our program. It was incredible news for us. Great timing," said Brody.
"And so we will offer films the first three days at the (arts) center and then across the street on Friday and Saturday, we'll be showing films on a donation basis to our community to just really welcome people back. It's been a long time since people have been able to step into our Majestic Theater and they're very eager to come back," he said.
This story from KGNUwas shared with Aspen Public Radio via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico including Aspen Public Radio.
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