February by the Colorado Film Society, a nonprofit organization founded by local filmmakers Kathy and Robin Beeck. BIFF is dedicated to providing the urban, film–hip audiences of the Denver/Boulder metro area with an early look at the best new films in international cinema. There also are conversations with directors, producers, and actors; world–class food and parties; and an opportunity to rub elbows with filmmakers in a winter wonderland. BIFF has hosted over 150 filmmakers from around the world since the Boulder–based Beeck sisters led the inaugural event in 2005. In 2009, actor Chevy Chase attended and was honored with an award.
The Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival
Founded in 2004, The Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival Boulder has attracted filmmakers and film lovers from across the Front Range with its annual festival in which filmmakers are challenged to make a short film within 24 hours using in-camera editing techniques only and including five of the eleven items required by the organizers. The Top 10 Films are screened and awarded prizes at the Historic Boulder Theater on the same weekend of the event. The Worldwide Event Guide from Frommers wrote that "Hollywood may take years to create a film, but Shoot Out throws down the gauntlet with a challenge to make one in 24 hours." The Shoot Out Boulder is listed as one of the unique events that "Keep Boulder Weird". Best Film Festival 2007, Best New Festival 2004.
Bent Lens Cinema
The Bent Lens Cinema film series was founded in 1998 to provide Boulder County GLBT persons an outlet to counter invisibility and misinformation about GLBT life through community screenings of quality first-run GLBT films. "Equal parts political activism and community building," Bent Lens is also known for the community salons following each screening where patrons can socialize and connect with one
