Denver Film Society Announces 38th Denver Film Festival ilms In Competition and Additional Award Recipients

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Tuesday, 03 November 2015 08:33

STAN BRAKHAGE VISION AWARD

Nathaniel Dorsky came to avant-garde film during a period of great cultural awakening. Arriving in New York City in the early 1960s, he found himself surrounded by filmmakers who articulated the yearning for a wholly original cinematic language.

Dorsky's work draws from the very essence of the art form. He creates profound experiences that explore the world through images of extraordinary beauty and montages that subvert the descriptive and awaken mystery. His films strive for balance, lightness, and quietude.

Dorsky, who lives in San Francisco, has made more than 30 films in his long and distinguished career. He has been the recipient of many awards, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. His work has screened in major festivals and at museums throughout the world.

The Denver Film Festival is honored to celebrate the immeasurable artistry of Nathaniel Dorsky by screening four of his short 16mm films and by presenting him with the prestigious 2015 Stan Brakhage Vision Award. Phil Solomon will present the award followed by a reception in the filmmaker's honor. Sunday, November 8, 7:00pm, Sie FilmCenter

REEL SOCIAL CLUB INDIE VOICE AWARD

Celebrating the spirit of the next generation, the Denver Film Society's young patrons group Reel Social Club will present its 4th annual award to Benjamin Dickinson following the screening of his SXSW 2015 breakout hit Creative Control. This satirical look at romance in a near-future Brooklyn is boosted by widescreen black-and-white cinematography, engaging special effects, and dry humor, while tracing the slippery slope between selfie-era hyperawareness and incurable solipsism. Director/co-writer Benjamin Dickinson uses his own experience directing commercials to speak to the omnipresent power of advertising and our ambivalence about the digital world. 

His fresh approach to storytelling shows a promising future on the independent film scene. Following a Q&A with Dickinson, Reel Social Club will move to Galvanize's newest location - a modern campus for the technologically inclined - for a virtual-reality themed after party. Friday, November 13, 6:45pm (film), Sie FilmCenter, 9:30pm(party) Galvanize on Platte Street, $25 DFS member film + party; $35 non-member film + party

RISING STAR AWARD PRESENTED BY RISE ABOVE COLORADO

Actor/musician Alex Wolff gained international recognition when he co-starred with his older brother, Nat Wolff, in 2005's musical comedy The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie. The film garnered the Audience Award for Family Feature Film at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and led to the spin-off television series The Naked Brothers Band from 2007-2009. At just six years old, he earned the Broadcast Music Incorporated Cable Award for writing the series' music, two Young Artist Award nominations, and one Best Band nomination at The Australian Kids Choice Awards.

Now 18, Wolff is continuing to establish a lucrative acting career bringing him to the Festival with Coming Through the Rye, produced by Emmy-winning TV director Jim Sadwith. The film is based on Sadwith's own attempt to track down Salinger and his encounters with the author of The Catcher in the Rye. Wolff's past credits include award-winning director Rob Meyer's A Birder's Guide to Everything (2014), a turn as a 15-year old genius in HairBrained (2014), the comedy film The Sitter starring Jonah Hill (2011), HBO's medical drama In Treatment (2010), USA's police comedy-drama Monk(2009), and Nickelodeon TV movie Mr. Troop Mom (2009).

Wolff will be presented with the Rising Star Award following the Festival's Closing Night presentation of Coming Through the Rye. Saturday, November 14, 8:00pm, Ellie Caulkins Opera House.