Silver Scenes

Compiled just in time for last fall's thirtieth festival, Take 30: The First Three Decades of the Denver International Film Festival — a collection of DIFF anecdotes and memories with photographs by Larry Laszlo — conjures images both old and new between its covers in an ultimate labor of love for Laszlo and recently retired fest director Ron Henderson. But for collaborator and writer Joey Porcelli, its charm further lies in the stories behind the photos, and for book designer Judy Anderson, it's the weighty object itself — a well-bound coffee-table volume of local photog Laszlo's luscious black-and-white prints — that excites.

And Take 30 covers a lot of ground: There's a bit of Denver history woven in between the lines and pictures, a whisper of lost movie palaces, as well as a Hollywood magazine-full of stars, from the old glamorous ones (Shirley MacLaine and Tony Curtis) to the young mavericks (Tim Robbins and Sean Penn). There are first looks at relative unknowns climbing their early rungs of achievement (the Coen Brothers for Blood Simple or Michael Moore for Roger and Me). There's Robert Altman, Donald Sutherland, Peter Falk, Morgan Freeman, Gena Rowlands, Danny Glover, Steve Martin and a funny shot of John Hickenlooper horsing around with Francis Ford Coppola.

"Larry really captures the moment," Anderson says admiringly. "In this age, there's already so much out there that in order to be seen as significant, something really has to have a presence." Laszlo, who’s been the festival's official photographer since its inception in 1978, clearly produces the kind of work that qualifies.

The quartet will discuss and sign copies of Take 30 tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street; for details, go to www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-436-1070.
Fri., Feb. 29, 2008