Courtesy of the Denver Film Festival
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Again this year, Denver Film Festival artistic director Matt Campbell is offering his must-see picks for each day of the event – including many flicks that movie lovers might otherwise miss amid the flood of silver-screen goodies. Today he spotlights a selection for November 6: Richland.
Richland
Directed by Irene Lusztig
7 p.m. Monday, November 6, AMC House 3
4:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 7, AMC House 3
According to artistic director Matt Campbell, Richland is “a really interesting documentary, and the filmmaker, Irene Lusztig, will be here for a Q&A.”
There will be plenty to discuss. “Richland is a small town in Washington that has a connection to the advent of the atomic bomb,” he says. “It’s not Los Alamos, it’s not Oppenheimer, but it played an integral part in its development.”
Richland’s brush with the bomb still lingers, Campbell continues: “In some ways, the film is a slice of Americana, profiling this tiny town. But Richland also played a part in the history of the U.S. military and the military industrial complex – and the film looks at how that’s having ramifications to this day.”
One example: The mascot of Richland High School is a mushroom cloud. Director Lusztig “interviews all these kids about what it’s like for their school to have this symbol of violence and mass destruction,” Campbell says. “Some people embrace the history, and there is tourism and things like that involved with it. But a past that’s so deep and ingrained brings both good and bad, depending on how you view it.”
Find details and tickets for the 46th Denver Film Festival here.
