A Festival Wrap-Up

There’s this Vision at Telluride Mountainfilm Festival…

By Lucia Stewart, 5-27-08

Surprisingly, I never saw an adrenaline-based movie at Mountainfilm Festival.

Even though it was founded 30 years ago on subject of climbing and mountains, it has reached beyond its boundaries to reveal through art, books, films, presentations, and round-tables conversation, the current conditions of the world, people who have or are influencing the greater good, and that which provides a sense of place and hope in the world.

“It’s amazing to see so many people who care and want to see and learn what is happening in the world,” said Ben Skinner, winner of the Mountain Film Prize for his work on freeing modern-day slaves and book A Crime So Monstrous.

This year’s MountainFilm saw its highest attendance, yet there is no sense of an elite crowd. There is access to every event, every filmmaker and speaker are available to talk, and the socializing is full of real people and conversation.

Each afternoon, all theaters fall silent for an outside gathering, something very unique for a film festival. On Friday – a Gallery Walk. On Saturday - an Ice cream social that closes Main Street. And on Sunday – a Reading Frenzy with over 25 authors signing and discussing their work, many of who are speakers at the festival.

What a fantastic way to awaken from sitting hushed, and to absorb and to discuss with festival attendees.

One filmmaker I met has returned after being inspired as a speaker 8 years ago, and wants to begin his own festival based on the artic regions and global warming. It’s common talk on the street to introduce yourself and how many years you’ve been to MountainFilm, as there is a dedicated crowd to Mountainfilm.

Some of the highlights I experienced at this year’s 30th festival:

• Listening to Ugandian Nando Parrado speak about his experience hiking out the Andes for 10-days after being stranded in a plane crash for over 60-days after the film, Stranded. And listening to Iraqi Azzam Alwash’s sense of hope from resorting thousands of acres of wetlands and marshes in his homeland which caused the restoration of wildlife and ancient ways of life.

• Catching the short, I Met the Walrus with intricate cartoons playing off a 14-year-olds reel-to-reel recorded interview with John Lennon. Fantastically magical!

• Being lucky enough to catch IMAX 3D screening of Grand Canyon Adventure, which was created with a 350-lbs camera that captures such high definition that it could be shown on a 8-story tall screen in IMAX theaters. And damn be it if I couldn’t reach out and grab that bubble that floated off the screen to almost splash my nose.

• Hearing in a Southwest water discussion that the draining of Glen Canyon Dam, is beyond the dreams of the river lovers but is talk in Washington D.C. amongst officials.

• Listening to a roundtable discussion of the US foreign policy, where we’ve come from, what are our strengths and short-sightings, and what is needed in order to move forward between CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, State Department Spokesman during the Clinton admin Jamie Rubin, and filmmaker Eugene Jarecki who is described as a “Michael Moore with a shower and a shave.”

• Seeing the documentary film Gonzo on on Hunter S. Thompson that focused mainly on his influence as the Rolling Stones political writer during the elections of the late 1960’s and 1970’s, the influences he created and elsewhere in life.

One thing I never did was attend a Breakfast Talk, to my dismay. A writer’s budget don’t lend to Telluride in-town accommodations (although I will brag that the porch where I stayed on the Mesa was transfixed in a meadow at the base of Mount Wilson.) I heard that these talks are where the real questions are asked of the speakers and the deeper conversations occur.

Growing up in Park City, Utah and at Sundance Film Festival, it was amazing to see a festival that really took care of its locals, and the locals thrive off it and look forward to it every year – making it a truly homegrown event.

“It’s such an unbelievable gathering of motivated people,” said Ben Knight, local filmmaker and winner of the Director’s Choice award for the film Red Gold. “I feed off the inspiration of this festival.”

MountainFilm has an underlying, but obvious value of wanting to make this world a better place, whether that’s from revealing the truths, opening it up for discussion or filling your cup with a sense of hope.

Will see you next year, for sure.

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