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Measles Update with CDPHE & The 2026 ACT Human Rights Film Festival · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

0:04
Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
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public health podcast, where we come together
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for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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real conversations. From your local public health
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team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. This
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is your weekly Minnesota, where we'll provide
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a brief update on local public health news. So,
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Tom, what's up in public health this week? Today
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we have Dr. Rachel Herlihy, Deputy Chief Medical
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Officer at the Colorado Department of Health
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and Environment, here to talk about measles.
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Dr. Herlihy, thank you so much for joining us.
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Before we get to today's topic and discuss measles,
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would you mind telling us a little bit about
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yourself and how you got started working in public
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health? Sure. Well, first of all, thank you so
0:41
much for having me. I'm excited to be here and
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have a chance to talk about public health and
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measles. So I am a preventive medicine trained
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physician and actually had a very longstanding
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interest in public health that first started
0:56
in high school when I read a book called And
1:00
the Band Played On, which is a book about the
1:02
HIV epidemic, also a movie if you don't want
1:06
to commit yourself to reading a full book. And
1:09
it's the story of the HIV epidemic and the epidemiology,
1:13
the policy. And I found it very fascinating and
1:17
decided at that time that a career in epidemiology
1:20
was something that was of interest. me. So made
1:23
my way through college and medical school and
1:26
then a master's degree in public health. Can
1:28
you tell us about what measles is and how it
1:31
is transmitted? Yes. So measles is a highly contagious
1:34
respiratory viral disease. So when you think
1:37
about what type of virus measles is, it's actually
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a respiratory virus. So that means that it's
1:44
similar to other respiratory viruses that we
1:47
think of, like the flu and COVID and spread in
1:51
similar ways and respiratory droplets and aerosols.
1:54
So spread when people are just breathing. coughing,
1:58
sneezing. You can get the virus from an infected
2:01
person from being in proximity to them if they
2:05
are coughing. You can also touch surfaces that
2:07
might be contaminated. And then one really unique
2:10
thing about measles, which is part of what makes
2:13
it so infectious, is that the virus can spread
2:17
in these very small droplets or aerosols, we
2:21
call them, that are these tiny particulates that
2:24
can stay in the air, floating in the air for
2:26
extended period of time we say up to two hours
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meaning that if you are in a room that a measles
2:33
case was in two hours before you can still get
2:37
exposed to the virus so again highly contagious
2:40
very easily spread from person to person in fact
2:43
it's the the most contagious virus that we know
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of So what are some common symptoms that someone
2:48
experiences when they do have measles? Yes. So
2:52
when we think of measles, we all think of the
2:55
measles rash. But measles actually starts off
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like any other respiratory illness in that folks
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will have a cough, runny nose. Common with measles
3:05
is going to be conjunctivitis or eye irritation,
3:07
like pink eye, and then fever. And individuals
3:10
tend to have a pretty high fever when it comes
3:13
to a measles infection compared to others. infections.
3:17
And then typically after those respiratory symptoms
3:20
start, about three to five days later is when
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that telltale rash starts. And the rash typically
3:26
starts on the forehead and the face and then
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spreads down the body. In fact, we sometimes
3:34
describe it as a bucket of measles or having
3:38
sort of like a bucket of red paint poured over
3:40
your head where you have this initial concentration
3:42
of the virus kind of at the top. of your head
3:45
and then less. sorry, the concentration of the
3:48
rash at the top of your head. And then as you
3:52
move down your body, there's less of a concentration
3:54
of the rash. Very interesting. So how concerning
3:57
is measles? Yeah, I think it's important to note
4:00
that measles is really not just a rash or not
4:05
just a respiratory infection. In fact, it can
4:07
cause lifelong problems, things like hearing
4:10
loss and brain damage. And if you look at the
4:14
most recent data from 2025, It put 11 % of infected
4:19
people in the hospital. So this is a serious
4:22
infection. It can cause complications like pneumonia.
4:27
That's one of the most common complications.
4:29
Also, ear infections are going to be common.
4:32
And then you can also see much more severe consequences,
4:37
including... brain swelling or inflammation known
4:40
as encephalitis. And then there's other problems
4:44
that it causes, including something called immune
4:47
amnesia, where infection with this virus can
4:50
actually basically wipe out your immune protection
4:53
from other infections you've had previously so
4:56
that you're no longer protected against other
4:58
viruses you've previously had. And then I would
5:01
say probably the most tragic and severe consequence
5:05
of measles infection is going to be something
5:09
that's a devastating neurologic condition called
5:11
subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. That's a
5:15
long -term SSPE. And that's a condition that
5:20
thankfully is not common. So it's one in several
5:23
thousand individuals who develop measles will...
5:26
develop that and more common in very young infants
5:29
that develop measles. But it's a progressive
5:32
neurologic infection that is ultimately fatal
5:35
and occurs several years after a measles case.
5:40
So it isn't something that occurs right away.
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It occurs years after that measles infection.
5:45
So many reasons that we want to prevent measles
5:49
infections from occurring in the first place
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and why measles vaccination is so important and
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why our efforts in public health to control transmission
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and contain cases when they occur is so important.
6:01
Is there a specific segment of the population
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that is at higher risk when it comes to measles?
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Anyone who is unvaccinated is going to be at...
6:09
risk for measles. Because the vaccine is so highly
6:13
effective, we say 97 % effective after two doses
6:17
of the vaccine, the vaccine offers very good
6:20
protection to anyone that has received it. But
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I think it's important to note that Babies don't
6:28
receive this vaccine until typically at least
6:31
12 months of age. So really anyone under one
6:33
year of age is going to be susceptible to measles
6:36
infection. There are some infants that might
6:38
get the vaccine a little bit early because of
6:40
exposure risk or international travel. But for
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the most part, infants are going to be at risk.
6:46
And infants are really going to be a population
6:49
that is at higher risk for complications of the
6:52
infection. And then really anyone over the age
6:55
of 20 that's unvaccinated and develops the infection
6:59
also has higher risk of developing complications
7:02
from the infection. So it's really those two
7:05
groups. It's infants and then really anyone over
7:08
the age of 20 is where we see that higher risk.
7:11
And then, of course, there's always going to
7:12
be individuals who are immunocompromised that
7:14
will have a harder time dealing with an infection,
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including a measles infection. so if someone
7:19
does you know test positive for measles do they
7:23
have to quarantine There's a term we use called
7:25
isolation. There's another term quarantine. And
7:28
then sometimes we just ask people to stay out
7:32
of school or stay home for a period of time.
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And so we can talk through all of those. So the
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term isolation is the term that we use when someone
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has an infection. So when they're actively infected
7:45
with a disease, whether that's measles or something
7:48
else, and we ask that person to stay home while
7:51
they are ill so that they don't go on to spread
7:53
that infection to other people. Quarantine is
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actually a term that we use for individuals who
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have been exposed to an infection. So had an
8:02
exposure to measles, but haven't yet developed
8:05
any symptoms, but we know because of their exposure
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that they're at high risk of developing the infection.
8:11
And so because of that, we want them to stay
8:14
home so that there's not risk for them spreading
8:17
the infection to others while we're waiting to
8:19
see if they're going to develop an infection
8:20
or not. And then individuals During outbreaks
8:24
in school settings, we also ask unvaccinated
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students and staff to stay home during that outbreak
8:32
because they're at high risk of infection and
8:35
perpetuating the outbreak in a school setting.
8:38
Thank you for making that distinction. Can you
8:40
give us an update on the current measles situation
8:43
here in Colorado? Yes. So at this point, there
8:47
is a measles outbreak that is occurring in Broomfield
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County that is associated with Broomfield High
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School and Broomfield Heights Middle School.
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It involves students that live both in Broomfield,
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but also in surrounding counties. So, so far
9:01
there have been 10 cases associated with that
9:05
outbreak. And some of them are in high school
9:08
students. Some of them have been in middle school
9:10
students. One case has occurred, an adult who
9:13
was a household contact to a student. So that's
9:17
a total of 10 cases associated with that outbreak.
9:20
In addition to those 10 cases, we've had two
9:23
other measles cases. in the state in 2026, including
9:26
one that we just recently announced this week.
9:30
And those two cases that we would consider sporadic
9:34
cases are not connected to this outbreak. They're
9:37
both in individuals that had traveled out of
9:40
state for some period of time. And we believe
9:41
in both of those situations that they were exposed
9:44
out of state. Are there other detection mechanisms
9:47
that CDPHE is using, like wastewater surveillance,
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to kind of keep an eye on measles? We are doing
9:53
wastewater surveillance. We do have, and you
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can check this out on our website, we do have
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a wastewater surveillance program in Colorado
10:01
that looks at multiple pathogens. So we are tracking
10:05
COVID and influenza, RSV virus, also tracking
10:10
measles, of course. And so that data is available
10:14
on our dashboard where you can look at the locations
10:18
around the state that where we are. we are doing
10:22
this wastewater surveillance. And at times during
10:25
outbreaks, we do also turn on these specific
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sites that are kind of extra emergency sites
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for us to help us understand if there's measles
10:37
transmission in a particular community that might
10:40
be happening. And so we are relying on wastewater
10:43
surveillance in addition to our routine surveillance
10:46
to identify spread. I will say, though, that
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we are still very much in the learning phase
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when it comes to wastewater surveillance. We
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have a lot of experience now with tracking respiratory
11:00
viruses like COVID -19 and have a clearer understanding
11:05
of how to interpret that data. With measles,
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this is really only something that we've been
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doing in Colorado and even nationally for a few
11:14
months now. And so we're really still trying
11:16
to understand how to interpret and use that data.
11:20
to help us know how much the virus is spreading.
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And as you can imagine, measles is very different
11:28
from COVID -19. When you think about COVID and
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you think about people that are ill, there's
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going to be lots of individuals in the community
11:35
that are sick at one time. Versus measles, the
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number of cases is much smaller. And so our ability
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to detect the virus in such a small number of
11:44
people can be more challenging. So again, I'm
11:46
still really working out how to use... wastewater
11:50
surveillance for measles, but excited about the
11:52
prospects going forward. Interesting. So once
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a positive case has been confirmed, what happens
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next? What does the response look like? Yeah.
12:01
So the first thing we want to do is public health
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and whether that's us at the state health department
12:07
or more likely our local public health partners
12:09
are going to reach out to that case and interview
12:13
that case to try and figure out where that case
12:16
may have been exposed. So sometimes we have known
12:19
exposures and sometimes we have unknown exposures.
12:21
We might not know where an individual may have
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been exposed to the virus. And that was actually
12:26
the situation with the initial cases in this.
12:30
room field outbreak. We really weren't certain
12:32
who they were exposed to. And then the other
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really important thing that we want to do is
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identify people that they may have been in contact
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with so that we can ensure that those individuals
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are aware of their exposure. We can identify
12:46
whether or not they are immune to measles. So
12:48
whether or not they've received the vaccine or
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not, or had a prior infection or have documentation
12:54
of a laboratory test that says they're immune
12:57
to measles, because that helps us. understand
13:00
who might be susceptible to going on to develop
13:03
infection. And again, going back to that quarantine
13:05
idea and asking folks to stay home if they're
13:08
not immune to measles is a really important strategy
13:11
to prevent that next generation of cases from
13:14
occurring and additional spread from occurring.
13:16
And so that's a really important part of what
13:19
we do through those case interviews. And then
13:21
also for measles, there's something called post
13:25
-exposure prophylaxis. And this is the term of
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the term that refers to giving medication or
13:32
a vaccine to a person who's been exposed to an
13:36
infection to try and prevent them from going
13:38
on and developing that infection. For measles,
13:41
it's a really tight window. So after an exposure,
13:45
we have about 72 hours to get a dose of the MMR
13:48
vaccine to a person to prevent them from going
13:51
on to develop measles infection. It's a pretty
13:54
small window, and that's tough to do when you
13:56
think about the timing of someone developing.
13:58
developing symptoms, getting tested, that result
14:01
getting reported to public health. For higher
14:03
risk individuals, there's also immune globulin,
14:07
which is preformed antibodies that we can give
14:10
to people if they're at high risk of developing
14:13
severe measles. And that window is a little bit
14:16
longer. That goes out to a week. So we have a
14:18
little bit more time to get... immune globulin
14:22
to people for post -exposure prophylaxis if needed.
14:25
So that's a really important part of what we're
14:26
doing when we're interviewing those cases and
14:28
trying to find their susceptible contacts. And
14:30
of course, then with the case that we're interviewing,
14:34
we're asking them to stay home so that they don't
14:36
expose others. And for measles, and it's going
14:40
to be different for every disease, that period
14:42
of time you need to stay home. But for measles,
14:44
the period of time when you're infectious is
14:46
typically four days before your rash starts.
14:49
until four days after your rash so we ask people
14:52
to stay home from From the time they develop
14:55
the rash, which generally people know that date
14:58
for an additional four days, and then after that,
15:01
they can come out of that isolation period. We
15:04
also ask that people, if they do need to seek
15:07
health care, we want to make sure that people
15:09
are seeking health care if they need it, but
15:12
they call their health care provider ahead of
15:16
time so that if they need health care, they can
15:18
make arrangements at the clinic or urgent care
15:21
emergency department to make sure that other
15:23
people aren't exposed. when that case comes in
15:25
to receive health care. So that leads to my next
15:28
question. How is measles treated? Yeah, so there's
15:32
unfortunately not an antiviral medication that
15:36
we can use to treat measles. It's really just
15:39
going to be supportive care to ease symptoms.
15:42
And so that's going to include rest, hydration,
15:45
fever -reducing medications. For some cases,
15:49
particularly in children that are hospitalized,
15:52
there is a recommendation for vitamin A supplementation
15:56
to be given. when there's vitamin A deficiencies
16:02
can decrease the rate of measles complications.
16:05
But I think it's important to note that vitamin
16:08
A cannot prevent measles infections. What vitamin
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A does is decreases the potential severity of
16:16
a measles infection after it has occurred. The
16:19
most important thing and the most effective thing
16:21
is going to be protecting yourself through vaccination.
16:24
So two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97 % effective
16:27
at preventing measles. Most kids, we do have
16:32
records in our state immunization registry. Those
16:36
records are available to know whether children
16:37
have received vaccines or not. For adults, not
16:41
every adult has their vaccine records and has
16:43
certainty about whether or not they've received.
16:46
doses of MMR vaccination. And so certainly important
16:50
for certain higher risk adults to make sure that
16:53
they're protected. And that's going to be people
16:56
like healthcare workers should really have two
16:58
doses or evidence of immunity to measles. People
17:02
that are traveling internationally or to outbreak
17:05
areas certainly want to make sure that they're
17:07
protected against the measles virus. And then
17:10
also people that are in higher education, living
17:13
in dorms, residential settings. really important
17:16
for them to be protected as well. Otherwise,
17:21
certainly making sure that kids are up to date
17:24
is a really important strategy. Typically, the
17:27
first dose of the MMR vaccine is given between
17:30
12 and 15 months of age, and then a second dose
17:33
at four to six years of age. And it's really
17:37
after those two doses that we see this very high
17:39
level of protection of 97%. Where can people
17:42
go to learn more about measles and find the most
17:45
up -to -date information concerning an outbreak?
17:47
Yes. So our website, so CDPHE's website, has
17:51
a dedicated page for measles. And you can find
17:54
information about ongoing cases in Colorado,
17:58
outbreak information, information about the cases
18:02
we've had by age groups, the counties where we've
18:05
had cases, whether cases have been hospitalized
18:09
or not, that type of information. And then also
18:12
on our website is information about exposure
18:15
locations. We identify measles cases and we do
18:20
these case interviews. We ask where people have
18:22
been in the community and post those locations
18:24
to our website so we can notify the public that
18:28
they had a potential exposure to measles if they've
18:31
been in one of these locations. Is there anything
18:33
in particular you wish more people knew about
18:35
measles? it's important for people to recognize
18:38
that measles is not a mild rash infection, that
18:43
it's a severe disease and has severe consequences,
18:46
including things like pneumonia or long -term
18:51
hearing loss, lots of significant consequences.
18:54
But of course, the good news is that it's highly
18:58
preventable, highly effective, safe vaccine that
19:02
can really prevent the infection and, of course,
19:04
prevent those severe complications as well. I
19:07
would imagine there's quite a bit of miss and
19:09
disinformation about measles at this point. How
19:12
has that been a barrier to some of your work
19:14
in public health? Yeah, that is a challenge.
19:17
Our priority is to make sure that Coloradans
19:21
have the information that they need to make choices
19:23
for themselves, to have access to information
19:26
about measles infections and the severity of
19:29
measles infections and information about the
19:31
safety and effectiveness of the MMR vaccine.
19:35
And so that's really going to be our priority.
19:38
We have seen declining vaccination rates. in
19:42
Colorado and around the country over the last
19:45
few years. And that is certainly a challenge
19:47
and probably has certainly not helped with the
19:51
situations we're seeing around the country right
19:53
now with the number of measles outbreaks that
19:55
are happening. The cases that we're seeing in
19:59
Colorado and in the U .S. are numbers of measles
20:02
cases that we haven't seen since the 90s. So
20:05
this experience we're having right now is really
20:08
challenging and can be frustrating at times too,
20:11
because we know that these infections and the
20:14
complications that they're causing are preventable.
20:18
Can you talk about how the approach to measles
20:20
prevention has changed over time? We now have
20:23
a much more effective and much safer route for
20:27
patients, parents, children to take to gain immunity
20:31
than what was experienced through actually acquiring
20:36
the infection and risking those complications.
20:39
Well, Dr. Rachel Herlihy, thank you so much for
20:41
your time. We really do appreciate you taking
20:43
the time to speak with us today. Thank you. I
20:45
really appreciate your time as well. Next, we're
20:48
joined by Beth Seymour, Managing Director of
20:50
ACT Human Rights Film Festival, here to talk
20:53
about this year's event. Beth, thank you so much
20:55
for joining. Thank you so much for having me.
20:57
To start, can you just explain what the ACT Human
21:00
Rights Film Festival is? The ACT Human Rights
21:02
Film Festival is a program of Colorado State
21:04
University, and it is one of three human rights
21:07
-themed film festivals in North America. One's
21:10
in Atlanta, one's in California, and we are the
21:12
only one in between. We are a professional film
21:16
festival, so we show films from around the world.
21:18
And it's a curated slate. We bring in filmmakers.
21:22
We have conversations. We have parties, panels,
21:24
events. It is a four -day festival this year
21:28
from April 9th to 12th. And we're really excited
21:31
about this year's lineup. How many films are
21:34
on the schedule this year? This year we're presenting
21:36
28 films from 13 countries across five continents.
21:41
What's the process for selecting films for the
21:44
festival? So our process starts in late summer
21:47
where we begin gathering film titles that look
21:50
appealing from film festivals around the world.
21:53
So we look at other festivals near and far to
21:56
see what human rights titles they're playing.
21:58
We also have an open submissions window in the
22:01
fall. All in all, we gather about 200 films to
22:04
review, and we have a committee of about 30 people
22:06
who watch films. We try to get at least two people
22:09
watching every single film that we consider,
22:12
and then from there, we work really hard to put
22:15
together a diverse slate in terms of geography,
22:18
in terms of topics, in terms of what stories
22:21
are being told, not just within one festival,
22:23
but also year to year. So that we're really putting
22:26
together a time capsule of important human rights
22:28
issues from any given year. And I will say that
22:32
artistic excellence and looking at the film's
22:34
quality technically as well as artistically is
22:36
also part of what we consider. So it is an education
22:40
program of the Department of Communication Studies
22:42
where film studies lives. So it's equally looking
22:45
at the topics, the issues, as well as how the
22:49
film's being put together and pushing cinema
22:50
forward. Are there any films that you're personally
22:54
excited about this year? This year's slate, I
22:57
will say I'm excited about pretty much every
23:00
film and it's always hard to pick favorites.
23:04
One film that we chose more than a month ago
23:07
and is sadly more relevant now than it was a
23:10
month ago is Do You Love Me, which is a portrait
23:13
of Beirut from Lebanon. And the filmmaker took
23:17
tens of thousands of archival sources and pulled
23:19
them together to make. basically a cityscape
23:22
used entirely of our archival footage of what
23:25
the history of Beirut is. And it's an absolutely
23:28
beautiful film and impactful and really just
23:32
interesting. So I'm excited about Do You Love
23:34
Me? Our opening night film, Comparsa, is devastatingly
23:39
beautiful and inspiring, ultimately hopeful.
23:42
And our closing night film is coming to us from
23:44
Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U .S.
23:47
Documentary Award as well as the Audience Favorite
23:49
Award. And it's called American Pachuco, the
23:52
Legend of Luis Valdez. And the filmmaker will
23:54
be joining us on Zoom for that. We also have
23:56
filmmakers for Comparsa for opening night coming
23:59
as well as a film participant from Guatemala
24:00
flying up. So it sounds like in addition to screenings,
24:03
there's... discussions with the directors and
24:06
filmmakers? Yes we prioritize having time to
24:10
talk through issues to talk through the film
24:12
so we try to invite as many filmmakers as possible
24:16
to join us and when filmmakers are unavailable
24:19
we often invite subject experts to come and help
24:24
community learn more about the topic in the film
24:27
learn more about what they can do. um moving
24:30
forward how did the act human rights film festival
24:33
get started a film professor at colorado state
24:35
university uh dr scott different received a morgan
24:38
endowed chair award where he was given funds
24:42
to research human rights film festivals around
24:44
the world So most countries or many countries
24:47
have human rights film festivals. I know of at
24:49
least 60. They're very common in Europe, less
24:52
so obviously in the United States. And there
24:54
are definitely film festivals throughout Africa,
24:56
throughout Latin America and Asia as well. So
24:59
he traveled the world studying these human rights
25:01
film festivals and still had enough money to
25:04
see the first ACT Human Rights Film Festival.
25:07
That was in 2016. And the event went so well
25:10
that our department, the Department of Communication
25:12
Studies, decided to keep the program going. So
25:15
we're now in our 11th year with more than 27
25:18
,000 people having attended, more than 300 films
25:21
having been screened, and more than 150 directors
25:24
or filmmakers joining us in person. You mentioned
25:27
human rights film festivals throughout the world.
25:30
I saw that the ACT Film Festival is part of the
25:33
Human Rights Film Network. What does that mean
25:35
for the ACT Human Rights Film Festival? The Human
25:39
Rights Film Network is based in Prague, and it
25:42
is a network of human rights film festivals.
25:45
And we communicate regularly. We share film titles.
25:50
We share professional development. We support
25:52
one another. Most recently, I juried the film
25:56
festival in Jordan out of Amman, Jordan. I get
25:59
to watch Jordanian short films, which was a magical
26:02
experience. I've also had the opportunity to
26:06
travel to Kathmandu, Nepal in person and be a
26:09
jury member there. And I also had the opportunity
26:11
to jury movies that matter in The Hague in the
26:14
Netherlands. So we support one another in a variety
26:17
of different ways. Our colleagues in Jordan helped
26:20
recommend and identify. Films from the Swana
26:23
region for this year's festival. So we lean on
26:26
one another's expertise for what films are really
26:29
pertinent geographically, you know, based on
26:31
the people who live in those regions as well.
26:33
How has the ACT Film Festival changed since its
26:36
inception in 2016? So I would say our core mission
26:39
has remained the same. We are still a human rights
26:42
film festival and our priority is uplifting the
26:46
art of cinema and showcasing films that explore
26:49
human rights issues. Each year the festival is
26:52
a little different. Some years we have poetry
26:54
readings, some years we have art exhibitions,
26:56
some years we have music. It's truly an immersive
27:00
festival experience. This year we have a workshop
27:03
from our community partners out of Isaac looking
27:06
at building community safety plans and the registration
27:10
for that is limited. So if folks are interested
27:13
in community safety plan building alongside Isaac,
27:17
please do sign up for that. The film festival
27:19
highlights a variety of important topics. Are
27:22
there suggested next steps for attendees who
27:25
maybe feel moved by a film and want to get involved
27:28
with the topic or the cause that it captures?
27:31
Our film festival brings community partners,
27:35
non -profit organizations to the festival for
27:37
every single film so that audience members can
27:40
learn about community work happening here in
27:43
Larimer County and how they can get involved,
27:45
whether that's volunteerism, advocacy, philanthropy.
27:49
or just learning more about a topic. So we bring
27:51
community experts and advocates, nonprofit leaders,
27:54
and community really enjoys connecting with them.
27:57
And the community nonprofits have reported they've
27:59
gotten board members, volunteers, donations from
28:03
these partnerships. So it really is a mutually
28:05
beneficial partnership to work with community
28:08
organizations and strengthen our civic sector
28:10
through that. That leads directly to my next
28:12
question. How have you seen the film festival
28:15
impact? Larimer County here locally? So that
28:18
is a difficult question because when you're looking
28:22
at measuring the impact of the arts, one would
28:26
need to do, you know, a survey before the audience
28:28
arrives on the topic, an immediate exit survey,
28:32
a survey a week later, a survey three weeks later,
28:35
a survey six months later to see, you know, did
28:37
your attitude or behavior change and did you
28:39
sustain that change in behavior? So we've never
28:42
done that. However, anecdotally, people will
28:45
tell me regularly when I read a news story on,
28:49
we'll say Iran, I think about that film and I
28:52
think about the people in that film and I think
28:53
about their stories and their lives and it becomes
28:55
real. It's not just people over there, it's their
28:58
people. So it really does create bridges for
29:01
audience members to see the world and to see
29:03
humanity more holistically and step into other
29:05
people's shoes. I regularly hear from our audience
29:08
members. I still think about that all the time.
29:11
We know that social connection and a sense of
29:14
belonging and community lead to better health
29:16
outcomes. How does a festival like this help
29:20
foster that sense of community and belonging?
29:23
So this year's festival really leans into the
29:25
power of art. Our opening night film as well
29:28
as our closing night film show communities that
29:31
have scarce resources and still lean into creation
29:36
and community building. Through the arts, through
29:39
performance, through festivals, through costumes,
29:42
and through these processes of creating art together,
29:46
the film participants build community and heal
29:49
and build a sense of belonging and are seen and
29:52
feel seen and their stories are being told. We
29:55
see that reflected back within our own audiences
29:58
when people see their stories or faces that look
30:01
similar to them on screen and feel heard, feel
30:05
seen, and feel validated in their stories. It
30:08
is an important opportunity to just really, in
30:13
a very safe, easy space, learn about other people's
30:15
experiences. What makes this work feel important
30:18
for you personally? I feel incredibly honored
30:22
to have the opportunity to do this work. I get
30:26
to watch the audience watch films, and my favorite
30:29
moment is when the credits start, and I can see
30:32
exactly how a film has affected an audience.
30:36
whether they're sitting absolutely still thinking
30:38
or whether they want to turn to their neighbor
30:40
and instantly talk about the film. I can watch
30:43
the effect and the impact that that film had.
30:47
I especially love watching CSU students watch
30:50
films because often it's somewhat of a brand
30:53
new experience for them. Most of them haven't
30:56
been to a film festival, and the type, the genre
30:59
of film we show is not necessarily something
31:01
they've had a lot of exposure to. And so students
31:04
get really inspired and will tell me they want
31:06
to become documentary filmmakers and they want
31:08
to do this work forever or they want to pursue
31:10
a career similar to something they saw in the
31:13
film. So it's really fun to watch how inspired
31:16
people are by films. Is there a film screened
31:19
during the festival's history that's had a particular
31:23
impact on you? I will mention two films that
31:26
have had a tremendous impact on how I walk through
31:29
the world. I actually love films that really
31:32
challenge me to think harder, think better, do
31:35
better. One of those films we screened last year,
31:39
it was Reed Davenport's Life After. And it was
31:43
about people with disabilities and the right
31:46
to die movement. And Reed Davenport's a brilliant
31:49
filmmaker. And he started the film with sort
31:52
of the news clip of how you would see the issue
31:55
of, you know, should people with disabilities
31:57
have the right to decide? whether to end their
31:59
life or not. And he started with a very simplistic
32:02
sort of quick news clip of that. And then he
32:06
started unraveling that and telling human stories.
32:09
And I realized how often we take our news clips
32:12
and we don't dig deeper to understand more and
32:15
how I had been somewhat remiss in accepting the
32:19
simple answer, accepting sort of, you know, the
32:22
party line or the political answer or issues
32:24
and that I really needed to continually learn
32:26
and dig. dig deeper and learn more about issues.
32:29
Another film that we showed a few years ago,
32:31
and I will say we've never had as much, I will
32:35
say contention from audience members who typically
32:37
support our festival over any programming choice,
32:40
but we got a lot of pushback. And then we also
32:43
got a lot of applause after people had seen the
32:46
film, but the film we showed was called Your
32:48
Fat Friend. which was about podcaster and celebrity
32:51
author Aubrey Gordon, and she is at the forefront
32:55
of the fat rights movement, which is what she
32:57
calls it. And audience members in Fort Collins
33:01
and Larimer County would say this isn't a human
33:03
rights issue, but of course it's a human rights
33:05
issue. How we treat our neighbors, how we treat
33:07
people is absolutely a human rights issue. And
33:10
when the audience saw the film, most people told
33:13
me that they'll walk through the world thinking
33:15
a little kinder, a little more compassionately.
33:19
for their neighbors. So that was an important
33:21
film to show as well. If listeners would like
33:23
to support the ACT Human Rights Film Festival,
33:26
is there a way they can donate or get involved?
33:28
Yes, we are currently running a matching donation
33:33
campaign through the end of March. So every dollar
33:36
donated right now will be matched by our generous
33:38
funders. You can go online to our website, actfilmfest
33:42
.org, to learn how to donate. We also need volunteers.
33:46
Our volunteer email list sign -up is also on
33:48
our website, and you'll look at the tab at the
33:51
top, Get Involved, and sign up to get our volunteer
33:53
email so that you know when volunteer shifts
33:55
open up, which should be in the next couple of
33:57
weeks. And tickets for this year's ACT Film Festival
34:00
are on sale now. Where can listeners go to buy
34:03
tickets and see the full festival schedule? Tickets
34:06
and our full festival schedule are available
34:08
online now on our website at actfilmfest .org.
34:11
All tickets are $0 or more pay -what -you -can
34:14
tickets to ensure that anyone in the community
34:17
can attend our film festival. Awesome. Beth,
34:20
thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so
34:22
much for having me. Do you have a question about
34:24
public health in Larimer County or a topic you'd
34:27
like us to discuss? Let us know. Email us at
34:30
healthiertogetheratlarimer .org. Until next week,
34:34
stay well, stay connected, and remember, we really
34:37
are healthier together.