By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

Boulder. Ouray. Telluride. Colorado is home to numerous film festivals—and one that’s had everyone talking as of late is, of course, Sundance. The Mimesis Documentary Festival, about to celebrate its sixth year, may not have that same cachet, but it’s leaning into its strength as a niche community.

“We’ve never tried to go mainstream,” said ​​Eric Coombs Esmail, director of the Center for Documentary and Media. “It’s kind of a club, in a sense that it’s a community of people who want to share work with each other, rather than a distribution platform for films.”

This year’s theme is “worlds among worlds,” which draws upon the idea that life and art—in this case, documentary—influece each other cyclically, thus becoming a microcosm within the world we live in. 

Over the course of six days—Aug. 5 through 10—festival goers can see films selected from a pool of more than 300 submissions from 59 countries. All films will be shown at the Dairy Arts Center; virtual screenings also will be held. Coombs Esmail said the high caliber of submissions made for an exciting challenge for the programming team.

“It was so strong,” he said. “It was extremely difficult to get representation on a regional and community basis. It’s a really difficult balance to strike, but the team was faithful to the idea of selecting the best program possible.”

Opening night will feature Russian cinematographer Masha Chernaya’s award-winning film The Shards, which received recognition from the Doclisboa International Film Festival, in Portugal, and Doc Alliance. It explores the local Russian underground scene, which Chernaya turned to after experiencing multiple personal losses in the spring of 2022. She will take part in a post-screening conversation.

The 2025 featured artist will also participate in a conversation/workshop about experimental filmmaking. Melissa Langer is a professional cinematographer whose credits include the 2020 TV series Cheer, the 2022 miniseries The Principles of Pleasure and an episode of 2024’s Photographer.

Attendees will get the first look at her debut feature film, In Excess, which combines contemporary filmmaking and previously unseen archival footage to examine the interplay of local and global politics.

“I’m excited for that one because we have a piece that’s very beautiful, but that also has a unique feature in that she is the first person to digitize a lot of these analog video tapes,” Coombs Esmail said.

Other films to keep an eye on are Symphonies of Sound by Ray Leonovich (CritMedia’25) and closing night’s Making Utopia by Mitra Kaboli, which is a hiking and listening experience that ends at the Halfway House, up Boulder’s Flagstaff Mountain.

“The more of a popular destination that Colorado becomes, the harder it’s going to be for us locals to keep our projects going and that competition gets steep,” Coombs Esmail said. “It’s super important that people show up for locally made events. Your presence is the most powerful thing you can provide.”