When people think of Breckenridge, they often picture world-class skiing or mountain biking on the trails that rise above the town. 

While the former mining community is a hot spot for outdoor recreation year-round, Breckenridge has also made its mark on the film industry, carving out its own niche on the cinematic map. 

Although the town has served as a backdrop for films like “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Breckenridge is most known within the film industry for having one of the first film festivals in the state. 

Breckenridge Film Festival was one of the first film festivals to regularly occur in the state of Colorado starting in 1981. Before then, Telluride Film Festival began in 1974 and the Denver Film Festival started in 1978.

Breck Film Fest was created by Breckenridge residents Meg Lass and Mary Rianoshek as a way to bring business to town during the often sleepy shoulder season in September. 

After seeing how successful the Telluride Film Festival was in its infant years, Lass and Rianoshek — who both worked for the Breckenridge Tourism Office at the time — pitched the idea of bringing a film festival to the town of Breckenridge. 

In the years that followed the inaugural event, Lass and Rianoshek continued to be pioneers for the festival, shaping it into the event that it is today. 

While no one has had a bigger hand in the festival than Lass and Rianoshek, Summit County resident Gary Martinez comes in at a close second. Attending the first event alongside his wife, Phyllis, Martinez has had a front row seat as the festival has morphed and grown throughout the last 45 years. 

Shortly after attending the first Breck Film Fest, Phyllis became a board member for the event while Martinez served on the Denver Film board. Several years later, Martinez joined his wife on the board, where he continues to be a board member to this day. 

Since 1981, Martinez has seen the event develop into one of Colorado’s top film festivals while also adapting and changing with the times.

“Breck Film Fest pretty quickly became a filmmaker’s film festival,” Martinez said. “We still continue to be that. We are known really as a filmmaker’s film festival.”

While Martinez feels like Breck Film Fest has stayed true to its roots over the last 45 years, he recognizes that some things have changed with time. The biggest difference Martinez recognizes is the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the festival and the film industry in general.  

“COVID really affected everything horribly,” Martinez said. “But movie theaters across the country were really bombed. The last statistic I saw was that movie theaters are still down 20% from pre-COVID levels. Movie theaters haven’t come all the way back yet.”

Although Breck Film took quite the hit during and after the pandemic, Martinez feels like the organization is steadily rising above the challenges and is hitting its stride again. 

Among Martinez’s fondest recollections of past Breck Film Festivals are the visits from actors and actresses to the town he calls home. Breck Film Fest has welcomed notable names such as James Earl Jones, Michael Shannon, Mary Steenburgen, Peter Fonda and Robert Englund. 

Martinez even got the opportunity to drive Englund — who famously portrayed Freddy Krueger in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” — back to the airport after one Breck Film Festival. 

“As we got in my car he started going to the backseat,” Martinez said. “I was just asking myself if I wanted this guy behind me while I was driving to Denver. I talked him into driving up front with me, and I felt a lot better about it. He was a very cool guy and really fun. There was just a little bit of nervousness there.”

Although Martinez believes Colorado has fallen short in boosting its film industry, he thinks momentum will build as the Sundance Film Festival prepares to land in Boulder in 2027.

“There is a tremendous film festival infrastructure in the state of Colorado that Sundance has paid a lot of attention to,” Martinez said. “It was Telluride, Denver and Breckenridge to be the first, but now you have Aspen, Estes Park, Crested Butte, Vail and Boulder. It is a great infrastructure that Sundance can tie into.”   

The 2025 Breck Film Fest will begin on Sept. 18 and will run through Sept. 21. The festival’s milestone year will feature more than 89 films and have 36 filmmakers in attendance. 

“We have had a really good submission,” Martinez said. “… We had over 600 submissions this year, which is a good number. We had a lot of great films to pick from. Obviously we won’t show 600 films, but we have a good bunch and really quality movies.”

Headlining films include comedy “The Best You Can”, drama “Rebuilding”, documentary “Moving Line” and adventure film “Kai Jones: Falling Into Place”. Additionally, two-time Oscar nominee and “Taxi” star, Judd Hirsch will make an appearance at the festival on Thursday, Sept. 18.

More information about the festival, including festival passes, can be found at BreckFilmFest.org.