Denver Film Festival Must-See Picks for November 7: An Open Door and The Great Divide

Again this year, Denver Film Festival artistic director Matt Campbell is offering his must-see picks for each day of the event — including many flicks that movie lovers might otherwise miss amid the flood of silver-screen goodies. Today he spotlights selections for November 7: An Open Door and The Great Divide.

An Open Door
Directed by John Barnhardt
7 p.m. Tuesday, November 7, Sie FilmCenter
4:30 p.m. Thursday, November 9, Sie FilmCenter

For the first time since he began sharing his must-see Denver Film Festival picks with Westword readers, artistic director Matt Campbell found himself unable to choose a single movie to check out on Tuesday, November 7. So he decided to double cinema lovers' pleasure by shining a light on a pair of documentaries that offer vastly different takes on Colorado.

Candidate number one is An Open Door, produced under the auspices of Colorado State University. "The film is a profile of Dr. Temple Grandin," Campbell says. "It's a really interesting look at her history of being a trailblazer in both the cattle industry and as a person with autism. It deals with her life before she was ever diagnosed as autistic and goes through how she literally wrote the book about her thinking with autism — thinking through pictures, and how that led to her career and success."

Grandin's story previously received the Hollywood treatment: The 2010 HBO film Temple Grandin earned seven Emmy Awards, including outstanding television movie and best actress in a miniseries or movie for Claire Danes, who also took home a Golden Globe for her work. But attendees of the Tuesday night screening will get to spend time with the genuine item: Grandin will be on hand and has agreed to take part in a Q&A session following the film.
The Great Divide
Directed by Tom Donahue
7:15 p.m. Tuesday, November 7, Sie FilmCenter
4:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 8, Sie FilmCenter
The second film selected by Campbell is The Great Divide, which he says "investigates the history of violence within the United States — specifically mass shootings, which Colorado, unfortunately, has a lot of history with."

This topic has been explored many times in recent years, but Campbell feels this look at the subject is different — and particularly enlightening.

"The documentary profiles the Colorado legislature as state senators are trying to pass red-flag laws," which create a process by which guns can be taken away from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others, "and the pushback from Republicans and gun-rights advocates," Campbell says. "But the filmmakers juxtapose the debate over the bill with American history and how it's created the foundation for mass shootings in regard not only to the Second Amendment, but also the slave trade and the genocide of native Indigenous peoples."

To support this thesis, Campbell continues, the creatives behind The Great Divide "profile several activists and Indigenous artists who live in Colorado. They talk about the Sand Creek Massacre and how that kind of history has influenced and set the foundation for our contemporary struggle with the horrific plague of violence that's kind of unique to the United States. So the film contextualizes history in ways you might not have thought about before, and may make you more equipped to conduct a discussion or debate on the issue."

Find more details and tickets for the 46th Denver Film Festival here.