Monday was a great day for the local film community gathering to celebrate a sold-out, centerpiece screening of a new apocalyptic thriller called “Elevation” at the MCA Denver’s Holiday Theatre. The film was primarily shot in Boulder and Golden, and provided work for about 75 local background actors and crew. When it happens, attention must be paid.

This kind of thing was common back in the 1980s and ’90s, a time so flush for film in Colorado, the original redevelopment plan for the abandoned Stapleton Airport property was to turn it into a 7-square-mile filmmaking complex.

But Colorado got caught dragging its feet after Canada introduced the concept of film incentives in 1997, which turned luring TV and filmmakers into a competitive blood sport. In 2012, Colorado got back into the game by creating the Colorado Office of Film, TV and Media, headed by Colorado Film Commissioner Donald Zuckerman.

In May, his mission got a turbo boost when Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation guaranteeing $5 million in annual film incentives through at least 2029. That’s a start. But consider what our neighboring states spend on annual film incentives: New Mexico: $110 million; Utah: $12 million; and, next year, Arizona will allocate $125 million, Zuckerman said.

At Monday’s screening, director George Nolfi made it plain that “Elevation” – set in a near-future where humans can only live safely above 8,000 feet because of some nasty creatures lurking below – only got made in Colorado for two reasons. And the first is just our luck:

“I wanted to shoot in Colorado because it made sense with the premise of the film,” he told The Denver Gazette. And the second?  “We never could have done it here without the incentives.” Nolfi specifically credited state Rep. Leslie Herod, who co-sponsored the incentives bill and attended Monday’s screening.

More luck: Nolfi had come to Colorado on a rough scouting trip and was blown away by the possible shooting locations he found. But he had no real expectations that it would work financially, he said, until a Colorado friend said to him in passing, “Hey, they’re changing the film incentives. It might not be as bad as you think.”

The alternative to Colorado, Nolfi said, would have been Serbia.

The single biggest problem for Colorado to lure future big-budget film projects, he said, is akin to the chicken and the egg. “There isn’t a substantial crew base living here because anyone who was here had to move away to find work – so they are all now living in L.A. or Atlanta or New Mexico,” he said. “So, Colorado has to find a way to make enough movies that people feel like they can sustain themselves and live here. Because for every extra person that I have to bring in from out of state to work on a shoot adds like another $50,000 per head.”

Nolfi emphasized that he had a wonderful experience making his film in Colorado. So much so that he’s hoping to return. “We’d love to come back and do a sequel – and a third,” he said from the Holiday Theatre stage, which drew a thunderous response.

The Colorado Office of Film, TV and Media essentially makes films that are produced in Colorado eligible for a tax credit for up to 20% of qualified expenses. Zuckerman says those incentives have generated $116.6 million in economic impact to 55 counties in Colorado and created more than 3,700 cast and crew positions since 2012.

CASTING CASTING DIRECTORS

One Colorado actor, Shauna Earp, landed a speaking role in “Elevation,” which will be widely released on Friday. Earp plays the woman star Anthony Mackie (Captain America) leaves his child with when he must venture downward to save the life of a young boy. Earp, ironically, is herself a casting director in her other life. For this film, casting was headed by the locally based Sylvia Gregory Casting.

“Normally I don’t get to audition myself for anything I cast, so this was a real treat,” she said. For Gregory, who casts all kinds of projects locally and nationally, the “Elevation” opportunity “feels kind of huge, and it feels really special. I’m honored, especially because I love so many of the local talent here. They’re some of my most favorite people I’ve ever met in my entire life. Anything we can do to help us all get more work in this town, I say, let’s do it.”

The best part of “Elevation” coming to fruition, Earp said, “is that it proves it can happen here, and that filmmakers really, really want to come here to work. The bad part is that we just don’t have enough film incentives to make that happen. I’ve heard from so many filmmakers that I’ve worked with throughout the years, including the Farrelly Brothers (“Dumb and Dumber”). They really want to come back here, but it all comes down to incentives.”

One character Gregory wishes she could take credit for casting in “Elevation” is Colorado itself.

“I have to say that Colorado looks gorgeous,” she said. “I hope people watch the film and see how beautiful it is.”

MACKIE’S MARVELOUS DAY

Monday was a whirlwind for Mackie, who wound up attending three preview screenings of “Elevation,” all in the same day. One was a private screening for cast, crew and families at a Cinemark in Boulder. The wildest was a private screening for the University of Colorado football team. The campus is just a quick sprint to the Flatirons, where many scenes were filmed.

“I’ve known Coach Prime for years, and I got to visit with him for a little bit,” Mackie said. “I’m glad to see what he’s doing with the university and the young men that he’s brought in. The diversity he’s brought to that campus is second to none. I’m glad they welcomed him with open arms, and that he was able to make that football program an anchor in the community.”

For his part, Mackie said Colorado was cool – but cold.

“Denver is a unique place, Boulder is a beautiful place, and I got to soak it all up,” he said. “I got to go to that crazy Meow Wolf thing, and I got to take in a CU football game. I got to see a lot of what Colorado has to offer, and it is literally one of the most beautiful states.”

SCREENING OF THE DAY

I get pretty emotional around all things Rocky Flats. My high-school best friend’s father died of esophageal cancer after working for 17 years at the now closed nuclear power plant west of Denver. Jim Downing’s lungs were contaminated with nearly 400 times more plutonium than normal, his medical records showed. His son was 15 when he died. I’m also sure the chronic health issues my oldest sister deals with every day can be traced to her living downwind from the plant.

Rocky Flats produced a staggering 70,000 atomic bombs, each serving as a “trigger” for thermonuclear warheads. Now, director Jeff Gipe is making sure people never forget its toxic legacy with his one-hour documentary, “Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory,” screening at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday at the AMC 9+10.

I asked Gipe what he would have me tell people who might think, “Rocky Flats? Wasn’t that, like, 40 years ago?”

“I would tell them this is an issue that is going to persist for at least another 24,000 years,” he said. “Thousands of generations will have to deal with the contaminants that still exist there.”

Enough said.

TITLE OF THE DAY

This documentary is wild: “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” has been described as “a riveting historical rollercoaster that illuminates the political machinations behind the CIA’s 1961 assassination of Congo’s leader Patrice Lumumba in a moment where African politics and American jazz collided.” Yes, the U.S. State Department sent jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from a CIA-backed coup. Wild. “But the really interesting thing about the film is that it’s presented almost in an avant-garde fashion because it’s influenced through the medium of jazz itself,” said Denver film Artistic Director Matt Campbell. 6:15 p.m. Wednesday at the AMC 9+10.

INFORMATION AND TICKETS

Go to denverfilm.org

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