DENVER — The Denver Film Festival wraps up this weekend, and part of the program includes a film inspired by events that happened in the Mile High City 30 years ago.
"Summer of Violence" takes place in Denver during the summer of 1993, when over 70 homicides were reported within a matter of months.
“I lived here during the summer of '93. I lived on Capitol Hill and then Five Points. And it always did stick with me both the violence that happened and then the response by the state, you know, and the laws that were changed,” Nicki Micheaux, the director and writer of the film told Denver7 Friday. “So what inspired me to write it was, I wanted to talk about how hard it is to, you know, follow your dreams or find yourself when it seems like the world around you is imploding.”
The main character in the film, a young woman named Naomi, decides against attending law school, defying her father’s wishes and ends up living in Denver during a turbulent summer.
“So I just really want to talk about, how do we come of age? How did we find ourselves? How do we find our voice, when some things about society are kind of crashing against us?” Micheaux said.
Micheaux added that while the film explores the feeling of loss, it also explores how the events of 30 years ago are still having an impact today.
“I think that another thing that inspired me is there's still so much random violence today, with school shootings, and Walmarts and movie theaters. That is that lack of control, you never know, when you go to a concert, what kind of craziness is going to happen," Micheaux said. "And it's, I don't think it's fair, honestly, for us as citizens to have to live in that kind of uncertainty. And I just wanted to talk about what it feels like to live on that kind of edge and what it does to your soul, what it does to your psyche."
Saturday’s showing of "Summer of Violence" is sold out and tickets for Sunday are limited.
