Events
Colorado: The Vail Film Festival
By Administrator

Colorado’s Vail Film Festival was founded by actors, filmmakers, and dedicated film enthusiasts, in conjunction with the Town of Vail in Vail Colorado and Vail Resorts.  The Vail Film Festival is a platform for independent filmmakers to screen their productions in the incredible Colorado mountain atmosphere. The Vail Film Institute stages the Vail Film Festival, a four-day event that enlightens and entertains thousands of film festival attendees and offers a creative outlet to the film world’s newest storytellers and innovators.  If your dream is to get into the film industry, the Colorado, Vail Film Festival is a great way to get a glimpse at writers, directors and producers.  You never know who you may see or talk with during the Festival.  While the Vail Film Festival. This Vail Festival is gaining the attention of serious film professionals and the up and coming talent.

The first annual Vail Film Festival was held in Vail, Colorado in April of 2004. The festival drew over 5,000 attendees and was said to be one of the most successful first-year events in the history of Vail Colorado. The 2004 festival showed over 60 films. Colorado is seeing The Vail Film Festival grow significantly from its first year, with the 3^rd year receiving over 1000 entries and 12,000 attendees.

While some of the films shown at the Vail Film Festival are not the mainstream box office hits, they do feature big screen actors and actresses including Ethan Hawke in Before Sunset, Drew Barrymore in My Date with Drew, David Duchovny and Robin Williams in  House of D and Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell and Eva Mendez in the Wendell Baker Story, just to name a few.

Festival activities include film screenings, classes, panel discussions, live music, nightly galas, a filmmaker reception, first-tracks skiing, and a closing brunch.  While the festivals main objective is to showcase film talent, it does a great job of integrating winter sports into the event by scheduling afternoon and evening-only programming and offering deeply discounted lift tickets to accommodate skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts.

The fifth annual Vail Film Festival took place April 3 – April 6, 2008 in the picturesque Vail Village, the heart of America’s most famous ski resort, in Vail Colorado.  The 2008 Festival program showcased Feature Films, Shorts, Documentaries, Student Films, Action Sports Films, and an Oscar Shorts Showcase.  This year, they increased the number of films from 60 to over 80, which is a testament to the gaining popularity of the Vail Film Festival.   The events took place in the Cascade Theatre, the Vail Mountain School and the brand new Arrabelle at Vail Square.  Passes ranged in price from $50 to $450.  The Film Festival added a new competition this year,  the 48 Reel Quick Film Contest.  The contest gives the chance to basically anyone with a camera to shoot a five minute short film and enter it into the contest.  The winner receives $8,000 worth of movie-production products and tickets to the next year’s festival.  The contest is hoping to attract a new crowd and encourage creativity among up and coming Hollywood creators.

The festival closing gala took place at 11,000 feet up on top of Eagle’s Nest at the marketplace.  Patrons enjoyed a gondola ride from Lionshead and amazing views of Vail’s mountain ranges while enjoying cocktails and appetizers. The event closed with a Sunday Brunch at the base of Vail’s Golden Peak where private pass holders and VIP’s gathered to talk about another successful Film Festival and what to expect at next years Vail Film Festival.