Mountainfilm Blogs: June 2012

Expedition kayaker and professional photographer Chris Korbulic — who 2011 Mountainfilm in Telluride audiences know from the film “Kadoma” — posted some images from his kayak trip in Zambia this spring on First Ascent’s site.

His images (and corresponding captions) tell the story of big water, big adventure and the dangers of both in this beautiful country.

Women do things differently than men. While this may seem obvious, scientists continue to examine the phenomenon and the reasons for it. Recently, researchers concluded that women are more plugged into social media than men. And now, another study shows that women may be the key to reducing climate pollution. A recent study published in Social Science Research says that efforts to improve gender equality around the world may help curtail climate change and environmental degradation.

The reason for the correlation is unknown, but nations in which women have achieved a higher political status — measured by female representation in government and the years that women have had a right to vote — tend to emit less CO2 per capita. It appears that women make different decisions than men in regard to the planet.

The Mountainfilm Commitment Grant was created to help ensure that important stories are not only told, but also heard. Artist Drew Ludwig was a 2011 recipient, which enabled him to travel to Japan to photograph survivors of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. The tsunami reached heights of 130 feet, traveled several miles inland, and Ludwig was determined to capture the scale of the devastation juxtaposed with the people to whom it had happened.

Accompanied by a translator and guide, Ludwig walked roughly 200 miles across a tsunami-scoured region, camping in abandoned buildings, witnessing remnant after remnant of the catastrophe and seeking out people’s stories. The result is images in which people physically demonstrate the size of the wave they saw. One man, for example, holds a long bamboo pole aloft with an umbrella tied to its tip. A young girl stands on top of an enormous boulder, and another photo is of a man who has just thrown a stone into the air. The stone flies way above him.

Stash Wislocki, the producer of Mountainfilm in Telluride, is in Kenya right now working at the Kakuma Refugee Camp with FilmAid. He emailed recently to share his experience:

A lot of important stories out there never get told, which is why we created the Mountainfilm Commitment Grant in 2010. In the two years since, we’ve awarded 10 $5,000 grants — along with 10 MacBook Pros — to filmmakers, photographers, artists and adventurers whose projects are intended to move audiences to action on issues that matter.

We tie small strings to the projects in return for our support: short, regular updates on progress with photos, clips, etc. (in addition to a final presentation); demonstration of a clear willingness to work with us to get the story out to a larger audience; and a small thank you credit (on films, etc). That’s it.

So what do you have to do? If you’re already connected with Mountainfilm in Telluride (or can scrounge up a good recommendation from someone else who is) and are creating a work that can be presented in a theater, gallery or more broadly on television and online, write us a letter of interest.

Six Organizations Cited for Outstanding Work Receive Funding

Telluride, Colorado (June 8, 2012) –Mountainfilm in Telluride held its 34^th annual festival over Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-28. The event aims to educate and inspire audiences on subjects that range from outdoor adventure and exploration to critical environmental, cultural and social issues, and the program was packed with guest speakers and roughly 90 films, many of which featured the work of diverse nonprofit organizations.

The question I ask after every festival is: What sort of impact did this year's edition of Mountainfilm in Telluride make? Of course the answer is never simple to quantify because intangibles, such as inspiration, are tough to measure.

We do know that many people in our audience have experiences at the festival that they describe as "life altering" or "attitude adjusting," but I’d like to know what that means in more concrete terms. 

For example, one of my favorite Mountainfilm presentations was around 2004 when Rick Ridgeway, Conrad Anker and Jimmy Chin spoke about their journey to western Tibet, an expedition they concocted at the previous year’s festival.

I know that Mountainfilm played a key role in catalyzing that wild adventure, but I also know that the festival impacts people in a variety of other ways, as well. One woman wrote me that Mountainfilm inspired her to run for city council because "I've decided that instead of fighting the government, we need to be the government. Hopefully, I can have an impact locally, at least."