Boulder International Film Festival welcomes back Alec Baldwin in March

Boulder International Film Festival will celebrate its 18th year in March and, in addition to returning to its home base of Boulder Theater after last year’s summer installment at Chautauqua, it’s welcoming back Alec Baldwin.

Baldwin attended BIFF in 2010 where he received the festival’s Award of Excellence in Acting.

“He’s been here before and he’s been a friend to the festival, so we are really excited,” said Kathy Beeck, director of BIFF, who founded the festival with her sister Robin Beeck.

This year, Baldwin — a lover of cinema — will be the festival’s first-ever Special Guest Programmer, where he will screen three films of his choosing.

Baldwin has selected “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb,” “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” and “Julia.”

After the screenings, he will do a brief Q&A with film critic and culture writer Lisa Kennedy. Tickets to the film screenings will go on sale with general program tickets on Feb. 11.

Festival passes are on sale now for $495. BIFF gift packs — also on sale now — are available in denominations of $34 (2 film tickets), $68 (4 film tickets) and $100 (6 film tickets).

“I am quite excited about returning to the Boulder International Film Festival, which I last attended in 2010,” Baldwin said in a press release. “I think Boulder is a great town and I know they have a wonderful festival.”

At 6 p.m. March 5,  attendees can look forward to a more in-depth interview with Baldwin, conducted by Ron Bostwick, who interviewed Baldwin at BIFF 2010. The “30 Rock” star and Bostwick, a DJ for The Colorado Sound, will return to the Boulder Theater — where Baldwin’s career was celebrated locally over a decade ago — for a special tribute and a film retrospect of his work.

Tickets for “A Conversation with Alec Baldwin” go on sale today at noon. Tickets are $60 and free for festival passholders.

While BIFF puts a strong focus on local talent, it has always been a draw for cinephiles throughout the country, showcasing top-tier filmmakers and screening films that have gone on to win Oscars.

“We really value our community, but we recognize the film festival has its place on a national stage as well,” Beeck said.

Previous stars that have attended BIFF include James Franco, Oliver Stone, Shirley MacLaine, Martin Sheen, Jesse Eisenberg and Jakob Dylan.

Baldwin has recently been part of an investigation for a fatal shooting on the New Mexico film set of “Rust,” a film that he was starring in and producing,  where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was accidentally shot and killed on Oct. 21.

The Beeck sister said that Baldwin — who has won seven consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role on NBC’s “30 Rock” — stays up to date with them.

“He’s such a nice person,” Beeck said. “He’s so into film and he calls the office quite a bit to see what we are screening.”

While normally the Beecks have a full year to prepare, this time BIFF 2022 is coming in hot on the heels of BIFF 2021 that took place in June.

“We’re going full-steam ahead,” Beeck said.

Music is always an integral part of BIFF and this year organizers are welcoming back a selection of artists who have played the festival in its previous years. Boulder stars Otis Taylor, Rebecca Folsom, Tom Wasinger and Chris Daniels’ Magic Music Duo are among the creatives returning.