Greeley is Home to a Unique Free Film Festival That’s Been Around Since 2014

With Colorado having the Telluride Film Festival, the Boulder International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival, it's important for Coloradans to know about Greeley's free film festival that happens for a week every fall.

Free Film Festival Every Fall in Downtown Greeley

It's really quite amazing that Downtown Greeley is able to host such a festival, without charging moviegoers. Each year, upwards of 20 films celebrating the west and westerns play at several venues with the "Go West Film Festival." Launched in 2014 with the showing of a dozen films including, "The Great Train Robbery," Django Unchained," and "A Fistful of Dollars."

Film Festival in Greeley is About 'The West,' Not Necessarily 'Westerns'

The festival, named after the famous quote attributed to Horace Greeley "Go West, young man," quickly found fans and a home. Many would think that a festival whose theme is "westerns" would be about the old westerns that made the likes of John Wayne, Gene Autry, and Gary Cooper household names; the festival is more than that, with films that celebrate "western life."

From Go West Film Festival about the event:

Through a celebration of classic and contemporary Western film, the Go West Film Festival explores social and environmental issues currently impacting the West, enhancing a deeper understanding of the nexus between Western myth and reality.

Think not only of movies like 1992's "Tombstone," a western in every sense of the word, but movies like "A River Runs Through It," (also form 1992,) where it's not about guns and bad guys.

Where Do the 'Go West Film Festival' Movies Play?

The movies are shown, again for free, at essentially two places in Downtown Greeley: The Kress Cinema & Lounge and the LINC Library Innovation Center (which is a five-minute walk from The Kress.) With all the restaurants, bars and Weldwerks being in the area, there's plenty do do in between showings.