34th Starz Denver Film Festival Opens November 2, 2011

Denver's premier film event "rolls out the red" Wednesday, November 2, 2011, for the Starz Denver Film Festival's opening night, kicking off two weeks of movies, panels, and parties. The Denver Film Society is offering up exclusive, members-only ticket packages for the Red Carpet Films at this year's festival.

The opening night film is director Drake Doremus's artistic departure from films like "Douchebag" with "Like Crazy." Where most Hollywood love stories crash and burn in the course of a one-night stand full of cliches, Drake Doremus's feature explores a five-year romance stretched across the Atlantic. It also features the blossoming talents of Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence. An Opening Night Party will follow the screening at Beta Nightclub downtown at 10:00 p.m.

The Big Night film is George Clooney's patrifocal unraveling in Alexander Payne's "The Descendants." The closing night film is a Hollywood heyday homage, filmed as a classical silent about an actor's rise and fall in the golden age of cinema before sound entered the picture, with Michel Hazanavicius's "The Artist." All three Red Carpet films will screen at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.

Thursday night at Henderson's Lounge in the Denver Film Center/Colfax marks another "Opening Night Party" at 9:00 p.m. following a screening of Danish auteur Lars von Trier's latest film "Melancholia," starring Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. "Melancholia" caused a stir at the Cannes Film Festival this year with von Trier's notorious "Nazi" comment.

Needless to say the press gobbled him up, but "Melancholia" survived the affair, even gathering acclaim that it's von Trier's greatest film yet. The movie is subdued by dramatic tones as a psychological thriller that rouses the experience with fantasy elements when the fictional planet Melancholia collides with Earth. There are plenty more highly anticipated films and undoubtedly some undiscovered gems that will emerge; Mile High Cinema Editor in Chief Brad McHargue has selected "Five Must-See Films at the 34th Starz Denver Film Festival."

McHargue's list includes Sean Durkin's critically acclaimed directorial debut, starring Elisabeth Olsen and John Hawkes, "Martha Marcy May Marlene." Fresh out of Fantastic Fest in Austin is Lynne Ramsay's brutally brilliant "We Need to Talk About Kevin," starring John C. Reilly and Tilda Swinton. Other picks include the mythologically rich Swedish thriller "Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps" and the latest film from dynamic mumblecore duo Jay and Mark Duplass, "Jeff Who Live At Home," along with "Goon," the best hockey movie in years, courtesy of Michael Dowse and starring Seann William Scott.

Films will screen at the Denver Film Center/Colfax and the Starz Film Center on Auraria Campus. Check times and locations at denverfilm.org.

Heading to the movies? Get an instant mobile coupon to use at select theaters for free popcorn!