40 years of celebrities, tough times and triumph
The tale of the Denver Film Society and its 39-year-old film festival can be told, as so many great ones have, in images.
“All of these photos, dating from year one, are from the same photographer,” said Denver Film Society co-founder Ronhenderson, scanning awall of framed, black-andwhite images in his namesake lounge at the Sie Filmcenter on East Colfax Avenue. “Denver’s may be the only film festival in theworld to have the same photographer (Larry Laszlo) document its artists over more than three decades.”
Those artists include directors, actors and screenwriters who have helped shape global cinema since May 4, 1978, when the Denver International Film Festival debuted with 78 films over 10 days. Morgan Freeman, Alfrewoodard, Peter Bogdanovich, Lillian Gish, Ang Lee and dozens more smile down from the walls.
Over that time, the festival has cultivated not only celebrities— including last year’s appearance of “La La Land” Oscar winners Emma Stone and director Damien Chazelle— but also regional film audiences at large.
“Therewas no energy here at the time,” Henderson said of the Mile High City when he moved here in 1975, following stints in publishing, news and festival curation innew York City, Nashville, Tenn., and his hometown of Oklahoma City. “There weren’t a lot of opportunities to see auteurs, international
directors, documentaries and art-house films, so the festival became that for many years.”
It helps that denverites immediately embraced the festival, which “exceeded all expectations” in terms of attendance and enthusiasm, Henderson said. Innovember 2016, with “La La Land” as its opening red-carpet film at the Ellie Caulkins Operahouse, the festival reported more than 57,000 attendees for 250 features, documentaries, independent films, shorts, panels and more, according to the Film Society.
From glad-handing nearly four decades of mayors and governors to entertaining directors such as Robert Altman and Francis Ford Coppola, Henderson (who would only say he was “70ish”) and his initial group of volunteers have built Denver’s contemporary film culture essentially from scratch.
A constant in the Denver Film Society
“I first met him in person in the summer of 2009 at a film festival in the Czech Republic, where we spoke over beers,” wrote Andrew Rodgers, executive director of the Denver Film Society, via email. “The Denver Film Society wouldn’t exist today if not for Ron ... and I’d venture to say that Denver’s film community wouldn’t be what it is today without him, either. Ron has aided countless filmmakers over the years and helped them build their careers, by providing a platform here in Denver to share their work.”
Indeed, through financial hardship and triumphs, Henderson has been a constant in the Film Society and its marquee event, serving in nearly every leadership and programming role while connecting audiences, political elite and Hollywood legends.
Thedenver Film Society counts the firstdenver International Film Festival in 1978 as its ostensible founding, although itwasn’t formalized as an organization until a fewyears later. That did not stop members fromcelebratinghenderson and his contributions with a 40th birthday gala on May 11 atwingsover the Rockies.
“It was a small, eclectic group, about a half dozen of us that first year,” Henderson remembered, his wild shock of white hair and bushy eyebrows rising and falling with his speech. “I came on that first year as sort of the art director, and you could count the number of film festivals in North American on two hands then.”
Henderson’s passion drove him and his colleagues to quickly nab big-name directors and actors, encourage a unique focus on Eastern European cinema and otherwise expand the event beyond its modest beginnings.
First centered at theaters such as the Ogden and the (now-defunct) Flick and Vogue, the festival has moved around downtown and south Denver venues in a pinball path. By 1984, in only its seventh installment, it welcomed Stevemartin, Bill Murray, the Coen Brothers, Wim Wenders, Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, Eric Roberts and Jonathan Demme.
During an interview, Henderson occasionally flipped through a yellow legal pad filled with handwritten notes to remember details of his long tenure, happily pointing out some of his proudest moments. His glossy-paged, 2007 book “Take 30: The First Three Decades of the Denver International Film Festival” (designed by his wife, Platteforum founder Judy Anderson) sat close by for reference.
Mostly, Henderson rattled off details without checking any source.
“It wasn’t always easy,” he said. “We’ve had some rough times and struggles for survival. But if you’ll permit me a cliché, it was more than a job, and even more than a passion. It was my life.”
Love of European cinema
Henderson began watching Western serials, cartoons and other fare at a 10-cent theater in Oklahoma City as a child.
“It was sort of like babysitting, as TV is today for some parents — although this was before TV,” Henderson said ofwesterns with Lash Larue and Hopalong Cassidy. “I’d usually stay and watch the whole program twice.”
In college in the 1960s, amid an American film revival driven by the French Newwave, Henderson was electrified by a classroom screening of Federico Fellini’s 1954 film “La Strada.” (Little did he know star Anthony Quinn would later be a Denver Film Festival guest.)
That informed his growing love of European cinema, and particularly from Eastern Europe, during the 1980s. One of his proudest moments is securing the 1989 U.S. premiere of the 10-part “Dekalog” by acclaimed Polish director Krzysztof
Kie lowski, who appeared at the festival. That same year, Seymour Cassel presented the first John Cassavetes Award to Steven Soderbergh— coming off his Cannes debut of “sex, lies and videotape”— on stage at the Paramount Theatre.
The logistical setbacks still sting a bit, as the downcast tone in Henderson’s voice hints when he talks about them. Financial stability, and finding a permanent home amid various theaters and short-term offices, was a consistent theme.
“When we were at the Tivoli, it was an AMC 12-theater complex, with six theaters upstairs and six downstairs,” he said, referring to the festival’s on-and-off home on the Auraria campus. That location would eventually become known as the Starz Filmcenter with a $5 million gift from Starz Entertainment Group founder John Sie. “But even though we were right there across Speer Boulevard from Lower Downtown, it was really isolated. At night it was a dead zone.”
With the support of the University of Colorado Denver, the original plan was to build a new, state-of-the-art film center at the Tivoli— architectural drawings were completed and included offices, theaters and a library— but frustration with the politics of the Auraria Higher Education organization led the Film Society to look elsewhere. When the Lowenstein Cultural Complex began taking shape on East Colfax Avenue with cultural tenants Twist & Shout Records and the Tattered Cover book store, the Film Society drew up similarly ambitious, $15 million plans for a seven-screen theater.
Again, financial considerations pared the project down considerably. But what is now known as the Sie Filmcenter finally opened in 2010, giving the Film Society its first permanent, and wholly owned, home.
“Getting to share time on the Denver Film Society team as a programmer, I got to see the inner workings of the finely tuned clock in Ron’s head,” wrote Keith Garcia, whoworked as programming manager for the Denver Film Society for a decade, via email. “His vision and appreciation of film, especially foreign titles, gave me a lot to aspire to as a programmer.”
Henderson’s steady hand has also helped him through staff disputes, including a 21-person walkout at the Denver Film Society in 2009. It followed disagreements with then-executive director Bo Smith, who resorted to layoffs while facing a $150,000 budget deficit. Fortunately, members shortly returned and former Denver Post executive Tom Botelho took over the society, turning around its fortunes.
Today, the organization reports a $3.85 million annual budget but still hustles to keep expenses in check. Last year, for example, it sold roughly $429,000 in tickets for year-round screenings at the Sie Filmcenter, where its highest regular ticket price is $11.
“Ifwe had to rely on ticket sales alone to fund our operations, every single ticket would cost more like $98 to meet our budget this year,” said executive director Rodgers. “We’re incredibly reliant on our members, donations, grants, sponsorships and of course the SCFD to fund the bulk of our operations and underwrite the cost of lower ticket prices.”
None of it would matter without audience support, which has always surprised Henderson in its open-mindedness. Likewise, he and the city have benefited from directors committed to showing new work to audiences outside of well-known critical and artistic centers.
“There’s a Robert Redfordesque, easygoing manner to our film scene, and that’s all thanks to Ron,” Garcia wrote. “If someone were to sketch him, I’d hope they do so with him in an easy chair, programming on yellow note pads, with a healthy glass of Scotch in his hand.”
Henderson still consults for the Denver Film Festival, which returns for its 40th installment Nov. 1-12.
“I’m just glad at the end of the day we have this lovely venue we can call home, and that I contributed to that,” Henderson said, looking around the Sie Filmcenter after walking through its theaters and poster-laden projection booths. “There are a lot of people who deserve a lot of credit for where we are today. It just so happens I’m the last one standing.”