5 Reasons to Attend the Crested Butte Film Festival
With over 75 films spanning many genres, the five-day festival is a September must do
Photo by Xavier Fane
There are an insane amount of choices for how to spend your fall weekends in Colorado, and that’s without even mentioning just getting in the car and going aspen hunting or tagging a lofty summit before the high country is coated in snow.
But there’s really only one event that combines the best of all things Colorado: Crested Butte Film Festival. Let’s dig a little deeper and look at why CBFF needs to be your fall trip this year.
A Diverse Film Line-Up
Feature-length narratives with critical praise and Oscar buzz? Check. Documentaries exposing environmental disasters and human rights challenges, and comedy shorts to cheer you up after? Yep to both. A kids and teen program to engage the entire family? Got it. A cultural buffet of foreign films to provide a global perspective? Of course. An array of work by local filmmakers who might even be sitting next to you in the theater? Yes!
Photo by James Mongold
That Magical Mountain Scenery
I mean, it’s Crested Butte. CB more than delivers with dozens of hiking options, legendary mountain biking, gold medal fly fishing and endless scenic drives. Or simply sit on a bench on Elk Avenue and recharge overlooking some aspen-flanked beauty.
It Coincides Perfectly With Peak Fall Color
I can picture the initial brainstorming session by the festival organizers: Hmm…when should we schedule our film festival? I know! Let’s wait until summer crowds die down but before the powder addicts take over the town for the winter. What about late September? When some of the largest aspen groves in the world are exploding into their absolute crescendo of golden alchemy? Perfect!
Photo by Xavier Fane
Access to Visiting Filmmakers
This year will feature many visiting filmmakers whose works are screened at the festival. Whether you stick around for an informal post-screening Q&A, geek out at a free Filmmaker Talk, rub shoulders with a director at a red carpet party, or just chat up a producer in line for coffee, the accessibility to talented creators is something nonexistent at larger festivals.
The Stories Will Take You
Even without any of those other reasons, this is the one that keeps me coming back each year. The stories. The festival team consistently puts out a lineup of films where the story is paramount and you’re sure to be taken somewhere by them. It could be to a faraway land or a mind-bending future world. It could be a place of gut-wrenching human suffering. Or a place where you question your impact on the planet and your role in the world. A place of tears or laughter or joy or love. But for a few hours in a dark theater, you’ll go somewhere. Then you’ll emerge into a high mountain paradise, into blinding sunlight, get back in line and do it all over again.
To get your Festival Pass and find out more information, please visit cbfilmfest.org.
