The Crested Butte Film Festival is a celebration of international films, held annually over four days in the last weekend of September, in Crested Butte, Colorado.
Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2025, the Crested Butte Film Festival (CBFF) was founded in 2011. In February 2025 the CBFF Board of Directors hired long-time Colorado nonprofit and local government leader, Scott Robson as Executive Director. In the years prior to 2010, the Town of Crested Butte previously hosted Reel Fest, a shorts film festival that lasted a decade but eventually was discontinued. The first installment of the Crested Butte Film Festival had an audience of 1,500 or approximately the full-time population of the town. By 2013 the attendance doubled and as of 2025 the Festival regularly draws attendance regionally and from across North America. The Festival is known for year-round programming of film in a funky unique mountain community which is a both a National Historic Landmark District and Colorado Creative District, and for offering unique opportunities for Festival attendees to meet and interact with filmmakers. The Crested Butte Film Festival also has a reputation for programming a diverse array of unique short and full-length films during its annual festival which occurs during the peak of the autumn leaf changing season in Colorado (September 24-28, 2025).
Crested Butte Film Festival programs artful, moving, creative and provocative films, in both short and full-length programs. Preference is given to creativity, daring, great storytelling, and bravery. The top selections are awarded to ACTNow, to the best narrative and documentary features, best documentary short, and to those chosen by the audience.
Awarded to a nonprofit organization linked to a call-to-action documentary.