Denver FF Report: Getting Downtown

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Parent Category: Blogs

Category: Brad Balfour

Published on Friday, 20 November 2009 09:17

Written by Brad Balfour

Now that Wes is here from the fest to get me downtown from where I am staying in Aurora, I have to ask him to explain where they came up with the term LoDo. That's the name for Denver's "lower downtown." He explains, "It used to be the seedier part of town and was the warehouse district and such. Since then, they put nightclubs, restaurants, built Coors Field — the baseball stadium and home of the Rockies — and have turned it into a popular place for the late-night, affluent crowd."

 LoDo certainly is one of my favorite places to be when I come to Denver. I like going the Market, a cafe breakfast spot and source for great organic food. And the Festival-created Late Night Lounge on Delganey Street is the home away from home for nocturnal filmmakers, and the kind of hangout for which LoDo is known.

On the way there, Wes tells me that he's met the two brothers who wrote and directed one of the most talked-about films at the fest. They created a story around their father's shambling life and got Ed Harris to play their dad. The tale behind the film's creation is worthy of a film itself — and a story that will be told here later on....

He also talks about the shorts program which sounds like a great place to discover new talent and some clever story lines. That's what a regional festival like the SDFF really offers -- support to young filmmakers who get a chance to run their new work before audiences but not yet put themselves on the firing line of the blockbuster fests.