Boulder International Film Festival provides free screenings for CU students
The Boulder International Film Festival premieres this week and gives students the opportunity to see a variety of films that may not be viewable elsewhere until they come out on DVD.
Providing audiences with more than just new independent films, the four-day festival showcases question and answer sessions with directors, live music and an experience not available in front of a living room big-screen TV.
Scott Wisdom, a 21-year-old senior electrical engineering and English major, has been to the Sundance Film Festival several times and said he intends to go to BIFF because of the unparalleled atmosphere.
“It’s different than going to a theater,” Wisdom said. “When you go to a film festival, directors and the crew are there. It’s a much more personal screening of the movie.”
Director Jon Poll, who produced “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Meet the Fockers,” will be present to discuss his new movie, “Charlie Bartlett,” after its screening. Bartlett is a high school student who establishes himself as a bathroom stall psychiatrist with great amounts of charm and wit that could make him the next Ferris Bueller.
“Stranded” is another film that transcends the typical movie experience. It follows the members of a rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1974, leaving them stranded for two and a half months. One of the survivors, Antonio Vizintin, will appear after the film to answer questions from the audience.
The event is free for Boulder High School and CU students with a valid student ID. Otherwise, tickets are $50.
Director of the BIFF, Kathy Beeck, 45, said she is hoping the festival’s free screenings will draw a younger crowd this year.
“Our mission is to grow and build the film community in Boulder,” Beeck said. “And that starts with the students.”
Several of the free movies showing include “Autism: The Musical,” a story of five autistic children who write, rehearse and produce a musical, as well as “Beauty Mark,” a film following triathlete Diane Israel through her struggles with her body image.
Sarah Coffield, 24, spokewoman for the Boulder Theatre, said she thinks that independent films like these are important to the community.
“It’s important to promote independent art,” Coffield said. “Boulder has such an independent scene, and it’s nice to represent that through film.”
The BIFF begins Feb. 14 with the Opening Night Gala, featuring music by the Hazel Miller Jazz Trio, food from the Cheesecake Factory and the pre-release screening of “Then She Found Me,” Helen Hunt’s directorial debut film. The festival runs through Feb. 17. For a complete list of films and to buy tickets, visit the Boulder Theater Web site.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Morgan Keys at morgan.keys@colorado.edu
