The 43rd annu­al Den­ver Film Fes­ti­val will be a most­ly vir­tu­al affair in 2020, which should come as no sur­prise to any­one who’s been pay­ing attention.

But after months of uncer­tain­ty, plan­ning and major orga­ni­za­tion­al changes, fes­ti­val pro­duc­ers at the non­prof­it Den­ver Film are lean­ing even more heav­i­ly into the online com­po­nent than ini­tial­ly envi­sioned, with cre­ative solu­tions to dig­i­tal prob­lems and hard-earned knowl­edge from a sum­mer of screen­ing exper­i­ments.

The Oct. 22-Nov. 8 event, which in past years has reli­ably drawn tens of thou­sands of cinephiles to more than 100 screen­ings in urban Den­ver, will take place large­ly on the dig­i­tal plat­form that Den­ver Film has been using in lieu of phys­i­cal, pub­lic screen­ings at its Sie Film­Cen­ter on East Col­fax Avenue.

There’s also a chance we’ll see in-per­son, social­ly dis­tanced screen­ings at Red Rocks Amphithe­atre as part of the festival’s pop­u­lar Red Car­pet series. Den­ver Film offi­cials have hint­ed in the past that they con­sid­er their ongo­ing Film on the Rocks dri­ve-in series at Red Rocks — which has proved wild­ly pop­u­lar since it was announced last month – to be a test case for those.

View­ers will be able to access Den­ver Film’s dig­i­tal plat­form via denverfilm.org, or by down­load­ing the Den­ver Film app for Roku TV or Apple TV. Tick­ets for the fes­ti­val — which include packs of four ($45) or 10 ($95) tick­ets, as well as an all-access pass ($225) — are on sale now at denverfilm.org/dff43.

Tick­ets to indi­vid­ual screen­ings are on sale Oct. 1 for Den­ver Film mem­bers and Oct. 5 for the gen­er­al pub­lic. Prices for all tick­ets are cheap­er for mem­bers, but will go up after Sept. 24, Den­ver Film offi­cials said.

“In ter­rif­ic times, and in chal­leng­ing ones, the Den­ver Film Fes­ti­val has stood strong for 42 years — and this year will be no excep­tion,” said fes­ti­val direc­tor Brit­ta Erick­son in a press state­ment. “Though we won’t be gath­ered in dark the­aters togeth­er, the strong spir­it, uncom­pro­mis­ing pro­gram­ming, and, most impor­tant­ly, the very best in cin­e­ma from around the world, will be show­cased in liv­ing rooms, on lap­tops, and wher­ev­er you find us.”

Due to its vir­tu­al nature, the 2020 fes­ti­val has expand­ed from 12 to 18 days, orga­niz­ers said, and will strive to present the same mix of con­tent as past, in-per­son events. This year fea­tures more than 100 offi­cial titles, includ­ing local, nation­al and inter­na­tion­al cin­e­ma, pan­el dis­cus­sions, trib­utes and achieve­ment awards, Erick­son said.

This year’s event also will show­case “pop­u­lar side­bar selec­tions,” such as its focus on Ital­ian and U.K./Ireland cin­e­ma; pro­gram­ming sourced from Den­ver Film’s bou­tique fes­ti­vals (Women+Film, Cin­e­maQ, CineLat­inx); and “new side­bars” includ­ing Col­orado Drag­on, Spot­light on Social Jus­tice, and a vir­tu­al High School Day for stu­dents and edu­ca­tors across the state, orga­niz­ers said.

The full fes­ti­val pro­gram and more details will be announced Sept. 30.

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