Friday through Sunday, opening night gala at 6 p.m. Friday, films at 9 a.m. Saturday and 9:15 a.m. Sunday, screenings at Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St.; Armstrong Hall, Colorado College, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St.; Richard F. Celeste Theater and Film Screening Room, Cornerstone Arts Center, Colorado College, 825 N. Cascade Ave., $15-$145, $10 box lunches available; 226-0450, rmwfilmfest.org.

A giant block of ice tumbled down Everest in 2014 and killed 16 sherpas. It was the worst disaster in the mountain’s history.

Directors Jennifer Peedom and Renan Ozturk, a 2002 Colorado College graduate, were there filming a documentary about the climbing season from the sherpas’s point of view and caught the traumatic event on film.

The highly acclaimed “Sherpa,” which has only had a limited theatrical run, will be screened Saturday night at the 28th annual Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, the longest continuous-running women’s film festival in North America.

An opening night gala and films kick off the festival on Friday. Saturday and Sunday activities include films and filmmakers, a filmmaker’s forum and a roundtable luncheon. About 1,400-1,500 people attend the festival each year.

This year’s roster features 45 films by and about women, including documentaries, shorts, features and animated films. And lest men immediately turn up their noses at a female-centric film festival, Linda Broker, executive director of the festival, has a response.

“It’s entirely possible for somebody to come to the festival and get through quite a bit of it and not know it’s a women’s film festival,” Broker says. “The misconception is that because it’s a women’s film festival that the films only appeal to women. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The films are universal.”

This year’s selections include “How to Dance in Ohio,” about a group of developmentally challenged teens and young adults who prepare for their first spring formal dance; “Mavis!,” highlighting gospel and soul singer and civil rights icon Mavis Staples; and “How I Got Over,” featuring 15 homeless women as they craft an original play based on their true-life stories.

“We have a lot of films that typically reflect what is currently going on in the world around us, both the good and the not so good,” says Broker. “It’s one of the things I love about the festival – the opportunity to come and sit in one place and learn about 100 different things.”

JENNIFER MULSON, THE GAZETTE, 636-0270, jen.mulson@gazettedev.gazette.com