Hollywood is a place for movies. You know what? So is Vancouver. And Hong Kong. And Denver. The past decade has been kind to Denver filmmakers. Noteable releases in the past few years have included Ink and, this year, We Are the Sea. Both films being able to grab a ton of attention on the underground markets, harboring interest and ditribution from interested fans and web campaigns.
As for up and coming films – Denver area filmmakers have been feverently busy on producing documentaries about, of all things, music.
The first is the brainchild of Denver Westword staff writer Tom Murphy’s – Denver Undiscovered. I had a chance to sit down with Murphy and his film-savvy, musically-minded counterpart Dane Bernhardt to discuss what promises to be a truely unique film.
A long standing Denver music reviewer and audio historian, Murphy has noted how several cities with a lush music scene have fallen to the wayside when “an outside source comes in and puts a stamp on what kind of music that town makes. I wanted to create well rounded image of what kind of sound Denver is capable of producing.”
Murphy references the 1996 movie “Hype!” about how Seattle went from sleepy fishing village in the middle of nowhere to a music epicenter of the universe due to the sound of a few bands and the application of the “grunge” label. All the while completely ignoring just about everything else the town had to offer. It is Murphy’s goal to make sure that even if Denver does somehow explode in the next decade, there is still a record of the musical diversity of Denver.
Denver Undiscovered is a documentary that provides a unique snapshot of the musical talent that Denver, Colorado has to offer. The film features performances and interviews from over 50 bands and was shot over the course of a year and a half.
Murphy and Bernhardt spent several months recording live performances and interviews with 20 musical acts based around Denver. Not only creating a snapshot of what our musical scene is like, but also gauging the reaction of what its like being a musician on the musical island of Denver.
The next Denver-based film to look forward to in 2011 is 40 Nights of Rock and Roll. The concept: 40 nights, 40 cities, a rock and roll show in each city each night. A fantastic team of publicists, lawyers and booking agents extended their help to make this the best movie it could possibly be. Leading this team are Scott Sloan and Steve LeBate. Sloan, a former wireless tech salesman, knew he always wanted to direct and produce a movie. So he convinced former Paste Magazine editor and long-time friend LaBate to join him on a journey of epic proportions.
Sloan completely changed his lifestyle to make the movie happen. After being laid off and going on unemployment, he sold his two bedroom house and moved into a shithole apartment adjacent to Invesco Fields. After taking out loans, abusing his credit, and successfully brokering a Kickstarter campaign to finance the beginnings of this project, Scott and Steve set out on the road in a beat to hell Jeep Cherokee (lovingly named “Black Betty”) to answer one question: What is the current state of rock and roll in America?
So ends this quick preview of movies you can expect to see out of Denver filmmakers this year. They may never hit Sundance, or even screen at the Mayan, but they will certainly provide a unique angle of everything Denver is capable of doing.
D.T. Pennington may write words, but he probably wont write any about you.
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