Published May 7, 2026 03:55AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Outside Days will rock Denver in more ways than one from May 29 to 31. The festival<\/a>, now in its third year, brings an unprecedented mashup of live music, film, speakers, and outdoor culture to Auraria Campus. One of the highlights is the Film series presented by Amazon Pharmacy, which this year features storytelling at the heart of adventure and human drama\u2014and a big dose of music.<\/p>\n Three of the films explore how sound and song shape our identities, memories, and experiences in wild landscapes, and cement Outside Days\u2019 DNA as a festival built around incredible live music. This year, artists like Death Cab for Cutie, Japanese Breakfast, My Morning Jacket, Cage the Elephant, the Flaming Lips, and many more will soundtrack the long-weekend celebration.<\/p>\n The full lineup includes 11 films across May 30 and 31, including two shorts and a feature brought to Outside Days through a partnership with Mountainfilm<\/a>, which takes place the weekend before in Telluride, Colorado, plus a feature presented by the Sundance Film Festival<\/a>, which will be relocating to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll want to see them all (details below), but if you want to prioritize the music-centric films, here are three to put on your calendar.<\/p>\n SURFILMUSIC<\/i> charts the evolution of Jack Johnson: how he went from a promising young competitive surfer to filmmaker to unlikely rockstar. The film mixes footage from his early surfing and surf-filming career with current ruminations on the wild paths his career has taken. Legendary friends and colleagues from all sides of Johnson\u2019s life (Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, G. Love) offer color commentary, and it\u2019s all soundtracked by Johnson himself and Los Hermanos Guiti\u00e9rrez. Director Emmett Malloy, a creative collaborator of Johnson\u2019s for decades, will participate in a Q&A following the screening.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Chris Benchetler\u2019s wildly imaginative Mountains of the Moon<\/i> features climbing, skiing, and surfing set almost entirely at night to a score created from the Grateful Dead\u2019s music. Festooned with appropriately trippy visuals throughout (and more than a few glowing skeletons and dancing bears), this eye-popping tribute to the Dead evokes a longstanding connection to wild adventures, and features an appearance from Mickey Hart, one of only two surviving members. Best of all, the screening will be live scored by a Grateful Dead cover band put together by Ross James<\/a>, who has played with Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and John Mayer.<\/p>\n The final musical tribute features found footage\u2014buried treasure discovered during the evacuation from the devastating 2025 Palisades Fire in California. Celebrated 1990s music video director Tamra Davis unearthed a forgotten box of videotapes featuring never-before-seen footage of artists like the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Beck, and Bikini Kill taken during Australia\u2019s 1995 Summersault Festival. The Best Summer<\/i> weaves energetic performances, off-the-cuff interviews, and candid backstage life, capturing the youth, friendship, and sheer talent that powered some of the most influential music of the time. Davis (who also directed feature-film classics like Bill Madison<\/i>\u00a0and Half Baked<\/i>) will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening.<\/p>\n Beyond the musical headliners, this year\u2019s jam-packed roster features adaptive climbers charting new climbing routes, Indigenous investigators working to reclaim the remains of stolen ancestors, a group of Black men forging bonds deep in the redwoods, and so much more.<\/p>\n All films will be shown at the Auraria Campus King Center in Denver. Here\u2019s the full lineup and when to watch.<\/p>\n