CB Film Fest sample of short films | Five Films not to be missed at the CB Film Fest

By Michael Brody, Crested Butte Film Festival

It would be a long article to highlight all 55 short films playing at this year’s Crested Butte Film Festival, but we did want to mention some of our favorites as great things come in small packages. 

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS I – “Postcards from the Edge”    

Saturday, September 30, 1 p.m. The Center for the Arts.

RANGE RIDER – Range rider Daniel Curry keeps the peace on horseback between Washington state ranchers and the state’s growing population of reintroduced wolves—could this be a model for Colorado? Come see the process and hear Daniel speak in person afterward. 

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS II – “Dreams, Lost and Found”

Saturday, September 30, 10 a.m. The Majestic Theatre.

Where do we even start? Our favorite shorts program: the dream of sailing, a ghost story—or is it, a memorial to a friend, directions in Costa Rica, and an opportunity to take back our flag. Who makes those American flags anyways? Mostly people who are very glad to even be here—see THE FLAGMAKERS. 

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS III – “By A Thread” 

Thursday, September 28, 4:30 p.m. Majestic Theatre.

Ah, the things you can do with a rope: aerial dancing above the Grand Canyon in OMEN, freediving in LIGHT BEAMS FOR HELENA, catch a massive fish in SHIRAMPARI, and feel a sense of freedom by rock climbing in your occupied country: REEL ROCK: RESISTANCE CLIMBERS.

NARRATIVE SHORTS I – “It’s A Family Affair”

Thursday, September 28, 1:30 p.m. The Majestic Theatre.

Oh, Brotherly love. Your younger brother has got his movie premiere tonight and you’re struggling with your rent and having to manage your own lame rock band. So what do you do? You start thinking fast: why not steal his laptop and sell it to the paparazzi? No. You wouldn’t do that. Would you? Come find out in SHADOW BROTHER SUNDAY.

NARRATIVE SHORTS II “Gotta Love Other People”

Friday, September 29, 1 p.m. The Majestic Theatre.

If we did have a comedy program this would be it. Come hear the neighbor’s loud sex in TROY, feel the humiliation of being overeducated and under-employed in PRO POOL, and get the revenge we all want when we buy something online and it isn’t what we ordered in TWO CHAIRS, NOT ONE.

NARRATIVE SHORTS III – “Close Encounters”

Saturday, September 30, 1:30 p.m. The Majestic Theatre. 

By far our broadest program: two love stories, a query into masturbation, just trying to get away in THE VACATION, what we really mean on a first date, and the price we pay for our freedom in NAKAM.

OUTDOOR ADVENTURE FILMS

Saturday, September 30, 7 p.m. The Center for the Arts

A perennial favorite. Remember when your mom got fed up with you and shouted the classic line, “Go outside and play”? These films are an homage to that: the wonders of stepping out the front door and having reality instantly change. Suddenly, everything is possible: aerial dancing above the Grand Canyon, freediving the cenotes of Mexico, building a human nest and seeing what happens, surfing the shores of B.C., and when your best-laid plans for an epic winter get waylaid by COVID, why, you just have fun skiing at home, amongst the orchards and sand dunes of Michigan.

BRICKS AND BOULDERING

Friday, September 29, 4:30 p.m. The Majestic Theatre.

Two great films. Two great topics. EARTHBOUND: NZAMBI MATEE – amidst a catastrophic plastic waste crisis in her hometown of Nairobi, activist Nzambi Matee risks everything to pioneer revolutionary technology that transforms plastic waste into sustainable paving and building blocks. In Bing Liu’s WHAT THE HANDS DO, two Hispanic climbers are dedicated to pushing themselves in their climbs, but they’re also social justice advocates. Together, they ask, “How can we use climbing to shape the world we want to see?”

STUDENT FILM SHOWCASE

Sunday, October 1, 1:30 p.m. The Majestic Theatre.

Our first ever Student Film Showcase. Films by two Colorado filmmakers and films from Chapman College, Florida State University and the American Film Institute. These great films show filmmakers at the beginning of their careers and showcase their ability to scare us, thrill us, make us laugh and thoroughly and entertain us—the filmmakers of tomorrow.

For more information on our entire lineup of short films, please visit cbfilmfest.org. 

By Michael Brody, Crested Butte Film Festival

I like to say I have the best job in the world: watch 400 films and put together five days of film of the ones I liked best. I think anyone would choose that.

That’s what the 13th annual Crested Butte Film Festival (CBFF) is. CBFF takes place in the minds and streets of Crested Butte September 27–October 1. Films will play at The Majestic Theatre and The Center for the Arts. As 80 films are coming to town, we thought we’d narrow it down for you and give you five films that are absolutely not to be missed.

SOPHIA –

If you only see one film at this year’s festival, this is it. Sophia is a stirring and visually immersive journey (literally, you cannot take your eyes off of it) into inventor David Hansen’s world as he tries to perfect the world’s most lifelike A.I. robot, Sophia. And like anything humanoid, things don’t always go to plan.

BIOSPHERE –

Actors Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown are the last two humans on earth (because, one of them, frankly, screwed things up). They live in a domed structure that sustains their lives; they jog in circles, talk Super Mario, and eat the tomatoes they have grown. But as life evolves, are they ready for what life—and evolution—truly ask of them? Buckle up and hold on for a wild ride through the biosphere.

FULL CIRCLE –

In this Warren Miller-like, ski adventure film, paraplegic athlete Trevor Kennison’s life was forever altered by a broken back sustained in the Colorado backcountry. Through years of recovery, Trevor completes the world’s first double backflip in a sitz ski, redefining the adventure and growth that such a tragedy can present.

IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL –

A slam dunk: the first-ever filmed portrait of the Indigo Girls. Witty, brutally honest, musical and beautiful, it reveals the Indigo Girls to be not only harmonious in their singing and activism, but in their positivity, openness and inclusivity, the people we all wish we could be. A perfect antidote to the negativity and fear that pervade American media and politics.

PAST LIVES –

Perhaps we all think back to that great love of our life, the one that got away. And what happens when that person happens to show up in the middle of our life, like today, in the place where we live? Come find out if it’s past lives that have brought us together or if the life we have right now is what is destined. And get ready for a heartbreaking, five-minute closing shot that wraps up this incredible love story.