Two New Films from CU Denver Instructors
These College of Arts & Media teachers help their students apply real-world experience in the classroom.
When CU Denver Film & Television professor and department chair David Liban had to show a body tumbling over a cliff for his latest film, he was in a bit of a pickle. “You know, throwing a body off of a cliff—that’s not something that people are going to just let you do,” Liban joked. (Don’t worry, he used a dummy model.) Still, the professor and independent filmmaker had to bring in stunt and safety coordinators to make sure nothing went awry on-set.
It took more coordinating than one might expect but, after filming was done, he was able to share every step of his troubleshooting process with his students and give them practical insights into the process of making a movie. That real-world expertise—from filmmakers who are teaching and making movies—is something that CU Denver students in the College of Arts & Media benefit from.
Those instructors include Liban and Christopher Beeson, who are both celebrating the release of independent films this fall. Liban’s latest project is a short film and dark comedy titled Love Less Likely. Beeson is a documentary filmmaker whose interests span human and animal mental health and well-being. He is the Film & Television program director and teaches classes on editing. His new film, The Healing Animal, is a feature-length documentary about animal-assisted therapy and gender transition.
Read on to learn more about their new films—and how their work informs their teaching.
Love Less Likely by Film & Television Chair and Professor David Liban
Love Less Likely is a comedy about an improbable friendship between a pre-pubescent boy and a woman who is suffering from a curse that is killing off her lovers in outrageous, surprising ways. “I like things that are presented to be something that could happen, but it’s so absurd and wrong that you are laughing at something that you know you shouldn’t be laughing about,” Liban said. “Things like The Big Lebowski or like the Coen Brothers, those are filmmakers that make movies that are pretty dark, and they’re engaging and have good characters, yet they’re also funny.”
Liban describes Love Less Likely as a proof-of-concept. It’s an abridged version of a feature-length film he wrote and hopes to one day produce. To make it, Liban called on about a dozen CU Denver alumni for the cast and crew. He also hired Denver actors and scored the film with music from the local band Animals in Exile. “That’s kind of my skill set as a producer,” Liban said. “You have to gather a solid crew of people you trust to get things done.”
Producing films like Love Less Likely and his 2023 feature-length film Publish or Perish, which he also wrote, directed, and produced, informs Liban’s work as a professor. He teaches film production courses on topics like writing, filming, and editing. When Liban comes up against a problem in his producing process, he brings it to the class for discussion. “Like, finding a location is really hard, this is what I did to find a location,” Liban said. “Or, you know, throwing a body off of a cliff.”
Love Less Likely is currently making its way through a run of festival screenings including The Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition, the Fiction Film Festival, and the Beaufort International Film Festival. Liban plans to make the film available online after its festival circuit is complete.
The Healing Animal by Film & Television Program Director and Lecturer Christopher Beeson
If you’re a fan of the documentary series Couple’s Therapy, then the format of The Healing Animal won’t be unfamiliar to you. The film is comprised mainly of intimate footage of real, animal-assisted therapy sessions. They follow the journey of Charlee, a person who was moving through their gender transition. To create the 50-minute documentary, Beeson recorded about 40 hours of sessions. He dedicated time to cultivating trusting relationships between himself, Charlee, the therapist, and the horses, dogs, and ponies who also participated in the therapy sessions.
For Beeson, the experience was moving, informative, and inspiring—especially for his teaching practice as a lecturer of editing and advanced editing at CU Denver. “A big concern for me is the mental welfare and the physical welfare of marginalized students in general,” Beeson said. “Spending a lot of intense time with one person like that really humanizes the whole subject for you.” He said the experience has further inspired his commitment to educational equity and empowering a more diverse next generation of filmmakers.
A big part of that for Beeson is embracing the individuality of each student, as the film does in its focus on Charlee. It’s an in-depth exploration of one person’s journey. “Communities are made up of individual people,” Beeson said. “So, when we stereotype a community, we’re doing a disservice to them because we’re not understanding that they’re individual human beings with their own stories.”
The Healing Animal will be available on PBS later this year, but Beeson wants to be sure it’s available to anyone who wants to watch it. If you’re a member of the CU Denver community and are interested in screening it, email Beeson directly.