The Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival, North America's longest-running women's film festival, is celebrating its 37th year with a run this weekend at Colorado College.
The festival showcases 42 films, continuing its mission to highlight women's voices in cinema. This year's event introduces open captions for over half the films, improving accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing attendees.
Artistic director Linda Broker said this year's films more than ever depicted the epidemic era, as many of them feature masks throughout the production. It demonstrates the length of time it takes to bring a movie to completion, she said. Nicole Nicoletta, executive director of Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival, said the festival was born out of a conversation Donna Guthrie and Jere Martin had on the drive home from the Telluride Film Festival one year.
"They said, Colorado Springs needs a film festival. Colorado Springs needs a space to highlight and elevate the voices of women filmmakers," Nicoletta said.
What began as a half-day event has grown into a three-day festival. Linda Broker, the festival's artistic director, said they look for films that espouse two different elements.
"One is specifically for the festival and the mission of the festival is to celebrate the drive spirit and diversity of women. So for the festival, our programming focus is obviously on films that are either created by a woman or if not created by a woman, the content of the film needs to reflect that mission."
The festival maintains an intimate atmosphere, with all screenings within walking distance at Colorado College. This year, 12 filmmakers and film participants are expected to attend, offering insights into their creative processes.
"It's absolutely one of the greatest elements of the festival, especially for everyone on the screening committee. It's always just really wonderful in many ways to actually meet the women behind the films and at times the subjects of the films as well," Broker said.
The organization also runs a youth outreach program, where local high school students watch selected films and create art in response.
"Many of the filmmakers say that it is one of the most powerful moments of their entire weekend at the Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival to be in this space with these high schoolers who are opening up about their experiences in life and how the film that this filmmaker presented just resonated with them," Nicoletta said.
She said people come from all over to participate in the weekend. "We do have folks who come for the festival from out of town, from California, from Texas, from just Northern Colorado," Nicoletta said.
And there are always some folks who come who have never been to a film festival.
"I think possibly some people are intimidated by the idea of coming to a festival and feeling like they have to dive in more than they might actually need to. And so again, you only have to take a small bite. You don't have to eat the whole pie until you're ready," Broker said.
The festival will also offer a virtual encore, allowing viewers to access many films online. This feature, introduced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, has become permanent.
"People often get very anxious about deciding between films. So the virtual encore takes some of that pressure off because you can go ahead and decide to see one of the films, knowing that one you're conflicted about will be available in the virtual encore," Broker said.
The 37th Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival runs from October 18-20 at Colorado College and the Virtual Encore from October 24-27.
Editor's Note: The Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival is a financial supporter of KRCC/CPR News. Financial supporters have no editorial influence. Colorado College owns the license of KRCC, which is operated by CPR.
