Mountainfilm Blogs: May 2010

It's Sunday afternoon and by now you have watched some incredible films, listened to inspiring people talk and taken in powerful images. Just walking down the Main Street, it's impossible to not feel the buzz of energy, the slight unrest and the overwhelming inspiration. So, now with all of that inspiration, what will you do to create positive change? How will you turn that inspiration into action?

To help you plan out your final day of films, here's a listing of Monday's TBAs: Khumbu, Monday, 9:30 a.m., Sheridan (playing with Eastern Rises) Eastern Rises, Monday, 9:30 a.m., Sheridan (playing with Khumbu Climbing School) Stone River, Monday, 11:00 a.m., Sheridan (playing with Waste Land) Waste Land, Monday, 11:00 a.m., Sheridan (playing with Stone River) Ultra Runner, Monday, 9:30 a.m., Masons -- Timmy O'Neill's first halting steps into the intimidating and intense sport of ultra running. With a hot dog in his pants.

Ready to see what TBA's we've got for this Sunday? Here's your full list, we hope it gives you the chance a few more films this weekend!! Restrepo, Sunday, 7:00 p.m., Palm Legend of Aahhh's, Sunday, 7:00 p.m., Sheridan Bearwalker, Sunday, 9:30 p.m., Sheridan (Screening with We Love You) The Fence, Sunday, 9:30 p.m., Nugget (Screening with Somewhere Near Tapachula) Somewhere Near Tapachula, Sunday, 9:30 p.m., Nugget (Screening with The Fence) Fishman, Sunday, 9:45 p.m., Masons (Screening with Green and Flathead Wild) Green, Sunday, 9:45 p.m., Masons (Screening with Fishman and Flathead Wild) Flathead Wild, Sunday, 9:45 p.m., Masons (Screening with Fishman and Green)

We're off to a great start here in Telluride, and if you weren't able to make it to the festival this year we want to make sure you know what we're up to! We kicked things off with beautiful weather and great food on Thursday night for the Filmmaker's Dinner. Then Friday we dove in head first with our symposium. A special thanks to all of our symposium speakers and our emcee, Josh Bernstein. Extinction Crisis was a difficult subject to tackle, but the symposium ended up leading to some moving, educational and inspirational discussions. Here are some of our favorite quotes from the symposium:

"Documentaries are the most powerful weapon in the world... I call them weapons of mass construction - Louie Psihoyos "If we're not aware of what we're doing, we're not going to change our action" - Maya Lin

The sky is blue, the sun is out and we're ready to kick off this year's festival! We're very excited about all of the great films and events that are going to be taking place throughout the weekend, and we're hoping that even if you aren't attending you'll keep an eye on what we're up to. We'll be blogging throughout the weekend, with fun photos and quotes from the festival, all to get you inspired about the issues that our films and events are covering. We're hoping that's it's a weekend full of everything that our mission statement stands for: educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining. Remember that if you aren't attending, you can still take part in those conversations.

Good news coming for one of our great sponsors, First Ascent, and just in time for this year's festival! Their Everest team made it to the summit this week, after weathering out a snowstorm over the weekend. But it's Everest after all, and summit temps reportedly reached -18ºF. Most notably was the story of Dave Hahn, who was climbing with the First Ascent team, and clocked this as his 12th summit of the mountain. That breaks his own record for the most summits by a non-Sherpa. Hahn was also helping to guide Leif Whittaker, as he managed his first Everest summit. Forty-seven years ago, on May 1, 1963, Leif’s father, Jim, became the first American to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain. That's something to celebrate.

"Although reefs cover only 0.2% of the world’s sea floor, they contain about 25% of marine species. Increases in sea surface temperatures and changes in water chemistry can cause large-scale coral bleaching, increasing the probability of coral death. Hence, the effects of climate change, added to other existing coral reef stressors, could lead to coral death. Australia’s great barrier reef could lose up to 95% of its living coral by 2050 due to changes in ocean temperature and chemistry." -Convention on Biological Diversity

Great piece from Mountainfilm Festival Director David Holbrooke on the evolution of Mountainfilm and the sacrifices we make to live a sensible life. From Huffington Post:

Last January, I traveled to Salt Lake City for both the Sundance Film Festival and the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show (OR) (which brings together companies that make gear and clothes for skiers, climbers and other outdoor enthusiasts). The events overlapped, so it was a chance to connect with two distinct groups: outdoor people and film folk.

It's time for your down and dirty guide to this year's festival! Along with the awesome line up of films, there's also a whole lot of other stuff to check out. Make sure you get these events on your schedule!

Now that we’re in the countdown to this year’s festival, we’re sure you want to check out what films we’ll be featuring. As the festival starts this Friday, this is the last trailer we'll be posting - it's time for the films in real life! Also check out the film schedule on our website. Today we’re featuring The Cove. The 2010 Oscar for Best Documentary went to this film, a story that brought audiences to tears at last year’s Mountainfilm, where it showed once in a surprise screening.

Now that we’re in the countdown to this year’s festival, we’re sure you want to check out what films we’ll be featuring. Instead of just listing them, we’ll be posting trailers to selected films, so keep an eye out for what’s to come! Also check out the film schedule on our website. Today we’re featuring Found. Found is an artistic representation of the poetry of Souvankham Thammavongsa, a Laotian woman born in a refugee camp in northeastern Thailand who immigrated to Toronto. Her dramatic birth and uncertain early life—without a land to call home and without a passport—led to a revelation that is deeply felt by many artists when they discover their medium: “When I learned to read…I knew this, this would be my way in.” Show Times:

Now that we’re in the countdown to this year’s festival, we’re sure you want to check out what films we’ll be featuring. Instead of just listing them, we’ll be posting trailers to selected films, so keep an eye out for what’s to come! Also check out the film schedule on our website. Today we’re featuring Africa's Lost Eden.

We believe in supporting independent filmmakers that work on important causes, which is why we want to alert your attention to what's happening with the documentary film Crude: The Real Price of Oil. From the Crude blog:

At this year’s Moving Mountains Symposium, we’re focusing on the Extinction Crisis. Why? Because with a species dying off every 20 minutes, there is real cause for concern. Part of changing that problem is through education, so follow along each Wednesday as we bring you a little more information on extinction, endangered species and biodiversity. What exactly is biodiversity? The International League of Conservation Photographers put together this great multimedia piece that showcases what biodiversity is and why it's important. Watching it, you'll quickly realize that biodiversity is something that affects all of us...

Because of all the great support we've had this year in the social media sphere, we wanted to make sure we met all of our friends in person! So if you've been following us on Twitter, put our Tweetup on your calendar and come say hi. We'll be hanging out at the First Ascent official Airstream trailer -- the new media hub, complete with WiFi, for the festival -- giving away some sweet swag. We look forward to seeing you.

Now that we’re in the countdown to this year’s festival, we’re sure you want to check out what films we’ll be featuring. Instead of just listing them, we’ll be posting trailers to selected films each Tuesday and Friday, so keep an eye out for what’s to come! Today we’re featuring Mount St. Elias.

Mountainfilm is dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining. We got to wondering what our mission statement conveys to others, so in February, we asked you to submit your photos for the chance to win a VIP Mountainfilm Festival package. The number, range, and beauty of the photos submitted was beyond impressive - in fact, the photos were so impressive we couldn't choose a winner ourselves, so we asked for your help. Thanks to all of you, two winners have been chosen!

"We need a new vision for biological diversity for a healthy planet and a sustainable future for humankind," -Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon.

The Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Environment Program released a report this week that takes an in-depth look on how biodiversity is changing around the world. The Global Biodiversity Outlook paints a grim picture, highlighting the severe issues of ecosystems around the world, including the effects of climate change and deforestation on the Amazon rainforest, the impact of overfishing on coral reefs and the threat to global waters on account of ocean acidification.

Now that we’re in the countdown to this year’s festival, we’re sure you want to check out what films we’ll be featuring. Instead of just listing them, we’ll be posting trailers to selected films each Tuesday and Friday, so keep an eye out for what’s to come! Today we’re featuring Forgotten on the Roof of the World.

Even though the Grand Prize Winner for our photo contest has been chosen - by you! - we’re going to continue featuring some of our favorites here on the blog. Every week we’ll be bringing you another photo that in one way or another reflects our mission statement: educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining. We'll be announcing the Grand Prize Winner next Thursday, so check back to see who won!

Now that we’re in the countdown to this year’s festival, we’re sure you want to check out what films we’ll be featuring. Instead of just listing them, we’ll be posting trailers to selected films each Tuesday and Thursday, so keep an eye out for what’s to come! Today we’re featuring The 10 Conditions of Love.

At this year’s Moving Mountains Symposium, we’re focusing on the Extinction Crisis. Why? Because with a species dying off every 20 minutes, there is real cause for concern. Part of changing that problem is through education, so follow along each Wednesday as we bring you a little more information on extinction, endangered species and biodiversity. "Up to 10 per cent of coral reefs - among the richest ecosystems - have been destroyed, and one third of the remainder face collapse over the next 10 to 20 years." - UNEP

Now that we’re in the countdown to this year’s festival, we're sure you want to check out what films we’ll be featuring. Instead of just listing them, we’ll be posting trailers to selected films each Tuesday and Thursday, so keep an eye out for what’s to come! Today we’re featuring Eastern Rises.