November brings the world to us in the form of the Denver Film Festival. This year, the festival runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 9, and it is peppered with unique selections from every genre and category. I preview a few here. Also, don’t forget about our monthly film screening and discussion at 6:30pm on Friday, Nov. 14 at the MCA Cube. This month’s movie is a timely and heartfelt story, and I hope to see you there.

Io Capitano (2023)

A wonderful Italian production that tells the story of two Senegalese teens who migrate to Italy. They start out as young, innocent boys before they make the perilous journey across the desert, through gang-filled territories, into dangerous cities, and then, finally, across the sea. Please note that we are collecting food (every month) for the MSU Denver Food Pantry, so if you are able, bring non-perishable goods. The university students need it, and we greatly appreciate your help! Tickets: mca80238.com/mca-calendar.

I Was Born This Way (2025)

I Was Born This Way

This brilliant documentary from Colorado resident Daniel Junge is playing at the Denver Film Festival on Friday, Nov. 7 at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Junge is a well-accomplished director who won an Academy Award in 2012 for his short film Saving Face, along with co-director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. His latest documentary, co-directed by Sam Pollard, tells the story of Carl Bean, a magnetic and eclectic character who was a young gospel singer who recorded the monster disco hit and gay anthem “I Was Born This Way” for Motown before his chosen career: a pastor for the Unity Fellowship Church. Bean founded the church in Los Angeles when he realized that there was a need for a faith-based LGBTQ+ church, and it grew from there. He was a formidable presence in every walk of his life, and this documentary covers it all.

The film itself does Bean justice through every era, starting with his early life in 1950s Baltimore and the challenges of being a young, Black, gay man. Junge employs an innovative technique to tell Bean’s early story—a period of his life that was bereft of pictures and/or video—through animation. Music was a big part of Bean’s life, and the sound of the film is one of the stars; it uses Bean’s own voice, old records and recordings, and extant live performances on video and film. Interviewees include Lady Gaga, Qwestlove (also a producer on the film), Billy Porter, and Dionne Warwick, among others.

Junge also employs dynamic editing techniques throughout to weave together the various threads of Bean’s life, as well as
essential historical context along the way. The end result is an endlessly captivating story coupled with brilliant filmmaking, a combination that Bean’s complex story deserves. Finally, another staple of Junge’s films also comes through in every frame: empathy. You will laugh, you will cry, and above all, you will be moved.

One other quick recommendation for the festival: Late Shift/Heldin (2025), written and directed by Petra Volpe. It stars the phenomenal Leonie Benesch (Babylon Berlin, The Teachers’ Lounge, September 5) as a nurse who we follow through one challenging night shift in an understaffed and overrun hospital ward. It is intense and engrossing, and I highly recommend it.

Festival screenings:  Thursday, Nov. 6.

Tickets for both films are available on the Denver Film Society website.

Vincent Piturro, PhD., is a Professor of Film and Media Studies at MSU Denver. Contact him directly at vpiturro@msudenver.com or follow him on X. For more reviews, search The Indie Prof at FrontPorchNE.com.