Denver Film’s annual Women + Film Festival opened Wednesday night, kicking off five days of features, shorts, documentaries (and even yoga) celebrating female filmmakers through April 14 at the Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave.
Two recommendations that still have ticket availability: Nicole Riegel’s “Dandelion” (7 p.m. Friday) is a love story about a spiraling singer-songwriter who takes a last-ditch gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota.
And Jazmin Jones’ “Seeking Mavis Beacon” goes undercover with two amateur investigators who examine the disappearance of Beacon, one of the most influential Black women in technology.
Both directors will be present for post-screening Q&As. Info at denverfilm.org.
Don Cheadle, the star, director and co-screenwriter of the film “Miles Ahead,” graduated from Denver East High Schoool in 1982. Here, he poses for a portrait at the London Hotel on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, in West Hollywood.
Cheadle on his Denver roots
For a guy with 106 TV and film credits over 20 years, Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle does not talk about himself all that much, so most of the world has no idea that he graduated from Denver East High School.
And you’d never know it from his rare tiptoe into the spotlight as the featured guest on the current episode of “Smartless,” a popular celebrity podcast hosted by goofballs Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.
Much was made of Cheadle's earliest days in Kansas City, but there was no specific mention that, by the time he was 11, his family had settled into a quiet neighborhood in southeast Denver. When Cheadle is asked how he got his start, he says: “I kind of got the early acting bug. I think I was in fifth grade. I was Templeton the Rat in a production of ‘Charlotte's Web’ that was written about extensively in the Denver, Colorado periodicals. You can look it up.”
No need! I did, and he’s referring to a production at Holm Elementary. In a 2000 interview (with his mother!) Cheadle said, “"I don't know why, but I was serious about that part."
He goes on to talk about his high-school experience, where he said “I had a great acting coach, a great acting teacher, a great drama class. I grew up with musicians now who are like professional musicians and who are hugely successful and incredible."
But he never got the chance to say who any of those people were, or that it all played out at Denver East.
But I’m here to tell you that Cheadle was a member of the prestigious Denver East jazz combo playing the alto saxophone under the tutelage of band director Jerry Noonan and alongside future legend Ron Miles.
Cheadle went to Cal Arts with equal scholarship opportunities to pursue acting or instrumental jazz, which he had some fun with during the interview.
“You know, it's crazy that my fallback was music,” he said incredulously. “Like, ‘If this acting thing doesn't work out, I'll be a jazz musician. That'll get me there.’”
Cheadle said he still maintains friendships from when he was in elementary school, and that “I attribute a lot of my success to my upbringing.”
In Denver, OK? Got that?
Bill Clinton drops by ‘Suffs’
Denver actor Jenna Bainbridge is greeted by President Bill Cllinton after a preview performance of the Broadway musical "Suffs."
How much has Castle Rock actor Jenna Bainbridge’s life changed since “Suffs” opened for previews on March 28, making her officially the first-ever wheelchair user to originate a role in a Broadway musical?
On April 6, Bill Clinton dropped by after the show to say hello backstage. (It should be noted his wife, Hillary Clinton, is a producer of the musical.)
Bainbridge’s response to meeting the former president? “Wow. Just. Wow.”
“I believe this photo was taken immediately after President Clinton told me I had some ‘good moves’ dancing out on that stage and then I was super cool about it,” she said. “We all had very normal, casual interactions afterward.”
Just kidding, she said.
“I was definitely not cool and did in fact collapse into a puddle instead,” she said. “There was nothing ‘normal’ or ‘casual’ about any of it.”
“Suffs” – short for “Suffragist” – opens for real on April 18.
Dion Leonard, the Australian author of "Finding Gobi," is visiting five schools in the Boulder Valley School District this week with his dog muse, Gobi.
Gobi found in Louisville
Gobi, the dog who inspired the book "Finding Gobi," is visiting five schools in the Boulder Valley School District this week.
Students at Fireside Elementary in Louisville got to meet Dion Leonard, the Australian ultrarunner who wrote “Finding Gobi,” and, even more fetch (OK, that word is a rhyming pun stretch) – the dog who inspired his best-selling book.
“Finding Gobi” tells the amazing true story of how Leonard and a stray dog became running companions and best friends during a grueling race through the Gobi Desert. It’s now been printed in 24 languages and distributed in more than 80 countries.
Man and canine are making five stops this week at Boulder Valley public schools, including Coal Creek Elementary, Louisville Middle School, Monarch High School and Eldorado PK-8.
More fun with film
The Boedecker Theater at the Dairy Arts Center is screening Alexandria Bombach’s joyful new Indigo Girls documentary “It's Only Life After All” five times between Friday and Sunday at 2590 Walnut St. in Boulder. For 40 years, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have been rewriting the rules of rock ‘n roll while battling misogyny, homophobia and a harsh cultural climate chastising them for not fitting into a female pop star mold. Go to thedairy.org for showtimes. …
“An Open Door,” John Barnhardt’s acclaimed documentary that celebrates the influential life of Colorado State University Professor Dr. Temple Grandin, will air at 7 p.m. and midnight Thursday (April 11) on Rocky Mountain PBS, and again at 10 a.m. on April 28. Grandin is known both for her personal experience with autism and her groundbreaking work in the humane treatment of livestock. What I really want to know is what she thinks of the piece of human scum who just shot eight of his neighbors' cows in Larimer County …
The Dance Archive honors six
The Dance Archive at the University of Denver has announced its 2024 Legends of Dance honorees: Grupo Tlaloc, Jo Bunton Keel, Nancy McElroy, Christina Noel Adcock, Rhetta Shead and Yunyu Wang. Keel is the retired co-founder of the groundbreaking Eulipions Theatre Company, which was dedicated to telling stories by and about people of the African diaspora.
The cohort was selected “for their deep and meaningful contributions that have elevated dance in Colorado and whose impact and legacy will be celebrated and preserved for generations to come,” said Christin Crampton Day, board president of The Dance Archive. A ceremony will be held in October.
And finally …
If you have been to History Colorado, it should come as no surprise that it is fully accredited by the American Alliance of Museums – an elite designation held by only 3% of all U.S. museums. And it’s been that way since 1972. History Colorado’s cred was just re-upped for another 10 years.
Your Privacy Choices