Mile High Mutiny: Major Shakeup Hits Denver Fest

I don’t know the details of the situation.  However, I have known Bo Smith professionally for many years, and he ranks very high on my list of this country’s best programmers and film connoisseurs.  There seems to be more to this than meet the eye.

In my world a cigar is never a cigar…

Thanks for the article and the info. Its hard to imagine DFS without Brit and Britta, whom I had always seen as the future of the organization. I am curious if it was entirely about personality, or if there were major differences in the approach/business model the two parties saw for DFS, and what those differences are.
DFS, the FilmCenter, and the Festival have always made me proud to live in Denver.  Its bigger than any personality clash, and as a community, we’ll do what we can to help keep these institutions strong.

To Amy and Linda,

I’m not jumping to any conclusions, nor is this article. It is my educated belief that if these resignations stand, the DFS and SDFF have been set back 10 years at best, dealt a death blow at worst. It takes a long time to build a sucessful festival and without the staff that did it, you’ve got nothing but desks and chairs. We’ve all spoken to people involved and made our judgements accordingly. No one is assuming there isn’t “more to the story,” but I for one think that the phrase “there are two sides to every story” is trite and over used. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I’m in agreement with Amy that there must be more to this bad situation than we know, and coming to quick judgments about the fate of the organization or the motives of individuals is the wrong thing to do.
It’s all probably way more complicated and deeper than we on the outside can know.  We do know that these are challenging times for all of us in the media arts and that change can be painful and difficult.  I’ve known and worked with Bo Smith over a really long time and know him to be a good guy, dedicated to cinema and developing the best audiences, warm, compassionate and very smart.

As someone who has long worked with these folks and called several people (on both sides of this story) friends, I literally cannot imagine how things could have come to such a terrible conclusion.

Ron Henderson and Bo Smith are two of my oldest friends in the business and among the most dedicated and hard working cinephiles I have known (in my 25 years in film). Both have always been incredibly warm, down-to-earth, and generous with their time and expertise. Britt, Britta and Keith are also all great film people.

I like jumping to a conclusions as much as the next guy, but I am going to hold off and wait for more info and—I hope—a happier final conclusion to this sad, sad story.

This is a stunning and dreadful turn of events. Ron, Britta and Brit have worked very hard to transform the Denver Film Festival from “simply” a top notch film festival into a destination that film lovers, industry and filmmakers from around the world count on as part of their annual festival pilgrimage. For Smith and the Board to have dismantled a proud, respected 30+ year-old film institution in a scant 8 months is nothing short of a crime against the arts.