DENVER — The Denver Film Festival is gearing up for its 49th annual event with nearly 150 titles and dozens of awards, panels and premieres — with a small but potent dose of celebrity on board.

The fest, which expands to 11 days this year, Oct. 22-Nov. 1, will once again take place across a suite of prominent venues, including the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

The complete schedule, screening times, locations, and tickets to individual screenings, Special Presentations, Red Carpets and other events are available at denverfilm.org/denverfilmfestival. They’ll be online for Denver Film members starting at 10 a.m. Monday, followed by a public on-sale starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Some sliding-scale or pay-what-you-can tickets will be available for screenings at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, as well as select general admission screenings, thanks to support from city agency Denver Arts & Venues, organizers said.

More than 2,000 films were considered through various channels, including other festival screenings and outside submissions, said artistic director Matthew Campbell. But as with every year, he didn’t program it with a theme.

“Part of the objective is finding a balance where variety of stories and diversity of voices is presented, so that would almost inherently work against a theme,” he said. “But you always are going to find throughlines. This year we have a lot of really interesting, strong sports documentaries that aren’t traditional subjects, from sumo wrestling to female bronc-busting, the World Cup and mountain climbing.”

The historic Ellie, the site of the fest’s Red Carpet events, will host opening-night film “I Play Rocky” on Oct. 22. Academy Award winner Peter Farrelly directs the fictionalized account of Sylvester Stallone as he preps for his biggest Hollywood bout in writing and acting as the character of Rocky Balboa; screenwriter Peter Gamble will introduce the title and appear at the fest the next day.

The fest’s Centerpiece presentations at the Ellie on Oct. 24 are the Tony Gilroy film “Behemoth!” starring Pedro Pascal as a cellist, and “Ink” from “28 Days Later” and “Trainspotting” director Danny Boyle, which follows British media magnate Rupert Murdoch’s early days. The official closing-night film on Oct. 31 is “Paper Tiger” at the MCA Holiday Theater, directed by James Gray and starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller.

Special Presentations include buzzy titles such as “The Debut,” “Wild Horse Nine,” “Elsinore,” “Wicker,” “Club Kid,” “Josephine” and “Take Me Home.” Those last two are co-presented with the Sundance Film Festival, which debuts in Boulder in January.

The Colorado Spotlight section will also feature a number of state-related premieres, including short films such as Traven Rice’s “Lay Lefty Down” (with Broadway/TV actress Tovah Feldshuh) and the Denver-to-Telluride road-trip comedy “Welcome to the Fishbowl,” which was directed by Sheryl Glubok and shot entirely in Colorado. It stars Broadway veteran and “Succession” and “The Walking Dead” actor Natalie Gold as well as “Ted Lasso” cast member Jeremy Swift.

Guests and awards will return with Carrie Coon (“The White Lotus,” “The Leftovers”) receiving the Excellence in Acting Award for her work in “The Liberation”; actor John Cho (“Star Trek,” “Searching”) of “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” for the Outlaw Award; and Liz Sargent (“Take Me Home”) for Breakthrough Director.

Benedetta Porcaroli (“Amanda,” “The Kidnapping of Arabella”) will get the 2026 Maglione Italian Film Award; “Star Wars” sound editor David Acord is receiving the Excellence in Sound Design (for “Behemoth!”); Michael Gitlin will receive the Stan Brakhage Award, alongside a retrospective of his work; and Fred Hechinger for the Rising Star Award following a screening of his movie “A Long Winter,” producers said.

More guests and award winners will be announced as they are confirmed in the coming weeks, they added.

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