Anyone who believes the movies don’t offer pleasures akin to binge-watching hasn’t been to Denver, where a slew of annual film festivals invites hours of all-consuming, thought-provoking or thrilling big-screen viewing. Even better, these weekend, weeklong or longer gatherings create spaces to engage with the movies, their makers and fellow film lovers.  

With the highly anticipated arrival of the Sundance Film Festival — arguably the world’s most consequential film convening focused on indie cinema — to Boulder in January 2027, Colorado is stepping further into the global spotlight. Alongside the iconic Denver Film Festival and the annual cinephile pilgrimage to the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day weekend, the state has solidified its place as a premier destination on the international film circuit. 

Plus, thanks to Denver Film and other local arts organizations promoting the power of cinema and visual storytelling, the Mile High City has ample opportunities to binge shorts and feature-length movies, narrative and documentary features, animated and experimental works. Explore all the upcoming film festivals in Denver (and nearby!) below.  

 

Denver Film Festival

WHEN: Oct. 31–Nov. 9, 2026 
WHERE: Various venues throughout the city 

Red-carpet galas and late-night parties, career-achievement awards and sundry tributes, thematic panels and onstage interviews — such are the offerings of one of Denver’s grandest cultural events. Not to mention regional premieres of award-bait films, retrospectives of essential cinema and celebrations of global and indie favorites. An entire piece could be composed simply name-checking the actors and filmmakers who’ve made each edition of the fest so memorable over the decades. And in-the-know audiences keep coming back for more. As Artistic Director Matthew Campbell explains, “I think that our film-going community in Denver is very adventurous, very intelligent. We always get comments from visiting filmmakers that wow, that Q&A was fantastic.” 

A great hub, buttery popcorn and an inviting lounge adds to the vibe. Extending its reach with perfect partnerships, the festival now makes choice use of the Denver Botanic Garden’s theater and the Museum of Contemporary Arts’ Holiday Theatre in North Denver. As for that list of guests, here are just a few of the fest’s red-carpet visitors: Emma Stone, Ang Lee, Morgan Freeman, Francis Ford Coppola, Wim Wenders, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Harris, Danny Boyle, Harry Dean Stanton, Michelle Yeoh and football player John Elway.

 

Sundance Film Festival (Boulder)

WHEN: Jan. 21–31, 2027 
WHERE: Various venues in Boulder 

Yes, that Sundance. The festival where films arrive without distribution and leave with headlines, bidding wars and release dates. After four decades in Park City, it lands in Boulder, bringing the premieres that studios, streamers and critics track closely from day one. From the Mile High City, it’s an easy trip up U.S. 36 or on the Flatiron Flyer from Denver Union Station. Visitors can split their time — screenings in Boulder during the day, then back to Denver for dinner, spacious hotels and more films at the Sie FilmCenter. It’s a rare chance to see new work before it lands anywhere else, without having to choose between the festival and the city. 

 

Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival

WHEN: March 20–22, 2026 
WHERE: Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave.  

If the name of this film fest beats a drum, it’s because it reflects a great partnership between late summer’s ferociously fun Colorado Dragon Boat Festival and the city’s premier film organization. The colorful contest that pits dragon boat crews against each other as they race across Sloan’s Lake is the largest of its kind in the nation. The film festival also shows off the rich diversity of the Asian and Asian American, Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander communities, screening the works of Asian and AANHPI directors. “What started as a small film festival has grown into a cherished community tradition of celebration, education and connection,” said Colorado Dragon Boat Executive Director Sara Moore. So, expect special guests, panel conversations, eats, a marketplace and maybe even a fashion show.  

 

Denver Silent Film Festival

WHEN: April 10–12, 2026 
WHERE: Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave. 

This gem of a film festival is something to crow about, thanks to the founding vision of film educator and historian Howie Movshovitz. The classic stars of the silent era — Lilian Gish, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Denver East High alum Harold Lloyd to name a very few — have been well-represented since the fest launch in 2010. Yet it’s the festival’s gift for introducing the restored silent films of directors — such as F.W. Murnau and Oscar Micheaux, Lotte Reininger, Alfred Hitchcock and stars like Louise Brooks, Douglas Fairbanks (another East High alum) and Paul Robeson — that makes it so fun. The reel stars, ahem, just might be the musicians who provide live accompaniment to the films. It’s a feat that the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Hank Troy, Tenia Nelson, among others, have performed with aplomb.  

 

Xicanindie Film Festival

WHEN: TBD April, 2026 
WHERE: Su Teatro, 721 Santa Fe Drive 

When Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center hosted a screening of the Sundance Audience award-winning documentary "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luiz Valdez" partnering with the Sundance Film Festival, it was a night of community celebration. The American Masters’ bio of the Chicano activist and writer of Zoot Suit and La Bamba, served as a warm reminder that Denver and Su Teatro are steeped in Chicano history and rooted in teatro campesino traditions. So, it’s no surprise that Su Teatro is home to the Xicanindie Film Festival. The festival began with a makeshift screen and a projector borrowed from Denver Public Schools. What started as an opportunity for Chicano filmmakers to screen their works has branched out to a weekend festival that encompasses the local and the global in Latino cinema.  

 

Women+Film Festival

WHEN: April 24–26, 2026 
WHERE: Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave. 

Denver Film’s longest running and much-beloved spotlight festival prioritizes the works and stories of women — but everyone is invited. Recent crowd-pleasers and conversation inspirers include the documentaries "The Eternal Memory" by Chilean director Maite Alberdi and "Judy Blume Forever" starring the titular and matchless author and ban-book warrior. In addition to movie screenings, the fest hosts Q&As and a luncheon that has in the past honored Rita Moreno, Hannah Waddingham and Julia Stiles.  

 

SeriesFest

WHEN: May 6–10, 2026  
WHERE: Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave.  

When Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith started this festival for episodic storytelling more than a decade ago, one lived in New York and the other in Los Angeles — and both had enough industry contacts to establish SeriesFest on either coast. Instead, the duo gladly opted for Denver. With its easy-in-easy-out international airport, tradition of indie film-going, and the might of Denver Film and its arthouse screens, the city has proven to be the right destination. Among the things that stand out at the festival are the influx of industry folks it attracts with its television series competitions, pitch-a-thons, singular panels and Q&As as well as its ongoing relationship to producers like Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland. SeriesFest also has one of the best launch events around, having hosted Stevie Wonder, Chelsea Handler and premiered the streaming series "Yellowstone" at Red Rocks. 

 

CinemaQ Film Festival

WHEN: May 29-31, 2026 
WHERE: Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave. 

Visibility was key to the founding of this well-regarded, edifying and, yes, fun-as-heck LGBTQ+ film festival. After all, visibility rebuffs isolation and builds community — with other LGBTQ+ folk but also with allies. And film can forge empathy. A few years back the festival launched the LaBahn Ikon Award and past honorees — Colman Domingo, director Andrew Haigh, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Niecy Nash-Betts — are shining examples of the meaning and cultural power of visibility and storytelling. Founded and programmed by Sie FilmCenter’s artistic director, Keith Garcia, the fest is always on point — culturally and politically — but Garcia also programs for “queer joy.” Speaking of joy, CinemaQ has moved to late May. What better way to launch Pride month than with movies, marches and mingling?

 

Denver Short Film Festival

WHEN: TBD, 2027 
WHERE: The Mayan Theatre, 110 Broadway 

This new kid on the indie block is true to its name. It’s a one-day event. It occurs biennially. It features films that range from 1 minute to 20. While DSFF’s reach is international, the festival — founded by local filmmakers — is committed to raising the profile of Colorado’s creatives. It’s a mission that has been embraced by local filmmakers but also avid audiences.  

 

Sci-fi Film Series

WHEN: June through August, 2026
WHERE: The Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave. 

A collaboration between Denver Film and the smarty pants at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, this monthly summer series pairs a scientist (some of them are actual rocket scientists!) with a film aficionado to discuss the real and the imagined in the beloved genre. Past screenings have ranged from the earnest ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind") to the  campy ("Fantastic Voyage").

 

DocuWest Documentary Film Festival

WHEN: Nov. 12-13, 2026
WHERE: Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Avenue 

Colorado is home to some of the finest nonfiction filmmakers in the nation — directors Daniel Junge and Jeff Orlowski, editor Davis Coombe, producers Paula DuPré Pesmen and Shane Boris among them. So shouldn’t Denver have a festival that honors the art form? It does. “We’ve Got Issues,” states the tagline for the DocuWest Documentary Film Festival. Just a few of  those concerns: environmental justice, civil rights and the state of democracies.  

 

CO150 Film Series

WHEN: June through October, 2026
WHERE: 30 community venues throughout the state 

For filmgoers a birthday party can’t get much better than the celebration of Colorado’s sesquicentennial with 150 Colorado-related movies. While the screenings begin in June, the fun starts in April when local movie lovers will be able to add to a list of 25 — chosen by a fine collection of film folks —  for the best films made in and\or about the state. The films will screen far (Mancos) and wide (Lamar), but there will be plenty to see in the Mile high City thanks to Denver Film and a few other local venues.   

 

More Film History & Culture in Colorado 

The city of Denver has long had a relationship with arthouse and indie cinemas. The many thriving movie houses — like the Flick, the Vogue and the Ogden — were partly why a group of cinephiles launched the Denver Film Festival five decades ago. And Denver Film — formerly the Denver Film Society — will be celebrating its 50th year in 2028. No wonder Denver is a go-to city for cinephiles.  

If you’re in town for a weekend, Denver Film is sure to be screening something essential and eclectic at its year-round home, the Sie FilmCenter. If you’re a film lover, plan a trip in the fall when the Denver Film Festival unspools or in the spring when the organization’s spotlight festivals run back-to-back. Make sure to check out the Sie’s calendar for its ongoing repertory series, Sie/Saw, where you can catch up with films past their theatrical runs as well as cult classics. 

Around the time Denver Film’s season of curated short festivals ends, its killer Film on the Rock series kicks off, bringing movies and music together at historic Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre. For more on the many al fresco film offerings, explore these outdoor summer movies.