The Trials of Darryl Hunt is on the short list for the Best Documentary Oscar. It’s far more than a courtroom drama, it’s the real story of an amazing man and the community around him refusing to play the roles society placed on them: Criminal, rapist, murderer. The accounts of Darryl Hunt’s various trials over twenty years are jaw dropping.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Jeremy Davies is one of those actors whose talent is so abundant, but he isn’t a household name because his characters are so unmarketable. Co-starring in the new film, Rescue Dawn, he talks briefly about working with Werner Herzog and the real reason he’s been showing up recently in films by great directors.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

The legendary and enigmatic director, Werner Herzog, found a new collaborator for Rescue Dawn (2006) in producer, Harry Knapp. Knapp describes that collaboration with one word.

Brutal.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Allan King’s latest film, EMPz for Life, is a film long overdue. The common concept of racism is outdated and conjures images from the Civil Rights Movement. The racism we face today has been harder to attach an image to. EMPz for Life accomplishes just this as the camera crew follows–in King’s signature cinema verite style–half a dozen young men and their frustrated mentor through twelve weeks of their life in inner city Toronto.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Friday night at the Starz Denver Film Festival. Kristin talked with Michael Apted about his film, Amazing Grace. Paul saw two docs, The Trials of Darryl Hunt and Allan Rich’s Memory…. Dave saw Heath Ledger’s new film, Candy. And Kevin saw We Like to Drink, We Like to Play Rock and Roll preceded by the short film, Moosecock.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

I went to Friday evening’s Red Carpet event to talk to British director Michael Apted about his new film, the historical drama Amazing Grace. Although Apted’s name might not be familiar to everyone, many of his films are, including Coal Miner’s Daughter, Nell, Gorillas in the Mist, and Blink.

His newest film, which was screened at the festival last night, tells the true story of one man’s long, hard efforts to abolish slavery and the slave trade in late 1700s Britain. Before the film, Apted talked to me about what drew him to this story, the important ways the film speaks to world issues today, and how The Up Seriesis especially close to his heart.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Daniel Schechter’s number one goal in his films is to get people talking about issues. It seems to work. Last night, after the screening of his newest film, In Debt We Trust, people couldn’t stop talking. Schechter says it’s because the film’s topic–the alarming problem of credit card debt and consumption in America–is one everyone gets. Like the best political documentaries, In Debt We Trust does its job when it comes to getting people talking and thinking and even doing something about the problem. Although the topic is sobering–even depressing and alarming–Schechter uses humor and an amusing original soundtrack to ease us through the message.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Thursday night at the Denver Film Festival left us blown away with two filmmakers. Friday morning we had to talk about it. Dave and Kevin saw actor/director Tim Robbins receive the John Cassavetes Award. Kristin and I had our first experience with documentary director–and Canadian national treasure–Allan King. They’re two men it’s hard to walk away from unchanged.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

In the 1960s and 70s, Allan King was at the forefront of a new way of doing documentary using cinema verite. Up until that point, cinema verite hinged on a central question that needed to be answered by the film, but King decided that the real life drama was the story in and of itself. This was very clear (and very successful) in the 1969 film A Married Couple, which Paul and I watched last night. I went into the film thinking it would be very interesting on an academic level, so I wasn’t prepared to be moved so deeply by the drama between Bill and Antoinette unfolding on the screen. King and his crew filmed the couple in their home for 10 weeks, until they appear to have completely forgotten the camera was present. The demonstrations of what goes wrong–and right–in a marriage are powerful. After the screening, Paul and I were very privileged to talk to Mr. King about the process of making A Married Couple and his particular understanding of marriage since making the film.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Originally a play made up of eight monologues, Marc Meyers and Jodi Girgenti adapted Approaching Union Square into a movie made on a micro-budget.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Last night, Kevin and I watched the film Nail Polish. Today we talked with the director, Jane Ainbinder, the lead actor, Alexandra Lydon, and two of the film’s producers, Randy Sterns and Courtney Lee-Michell. Our conversation flowed from small budgets and semi-autobiographical scripts, to women filmmakers, collaboration, and what it means to throw your heart into a film you believe in. (If you happen to be in Denver this weekend but missed the screening last night, you can catch the film at 4 p.m. on Sunday.)

Filmmakers Korey Green and Addison Henderson grew up in the impoverished ghetto of Buffalo, NY and they have one agenda: Show people the suffering of their friends and neighbors. As insiders from the neighborhood, they take their camera into places middle class America has never seen. Sometimes scattered, the film makes no thesis statement about poverty. But as I spoke with the filmmakers, it became clear the point is just to show the world the people of what they call, The Forgotten City.

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

I arrived in Denver Wednesday afternoon, ready to offer some fresh energy to Dave and Kevin who have been burning the midnight oil for a whole week now. So after a download with the whole team over beer and some really delicious fish tacos, Kevin and I head for my first film of the festival, Nail Polish. After the film we look across the aisle to our left and see none other than the real Will Ferrell sitting in the audience. His wife, Viveca Paulin, is one of the producers for Nail Polish. Needless to say, Kevin and I worked up the courage to interview them on the fly, trying hard to keep the focus on Paulin’s film, not Ferrell’s career. He talked about big-budget productions versus small-budget films, and some of his favorite things about Nail Polish, while she talked about the challenges of shooting a film in 28 days with a small crew.

Will Ferrell and Viveca Paulin.
Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

Last night, Paul and I went to see Venus, starring Peter O’Toole. It was a film Paul had heard much about at Telluride but had missed, so we were glad to catch it. The man who introduced the film said he thinks it’s one to watch for an Oscar nomination and possibly award for O’Toole. I’m not one to make such predictions, but it was an amazing performance. Listen as Paul and I talk about what works in the film (the treatment of larger issues and themes) and what doesn’t work quite as well (like some cliche moments a bit too reminiscent of Pretty Woman and My Fair Lady).

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast