Mountainfilm Blog

This is the first blog in a three-part series about film festival submission by Emily Long, Mountainfilm in Telluride’s Program Director. Hopefully, it will help filmmakers understand this sometimes-confusing world because Mountainfilm is now accepting entries for our 35th festival, held May 24-27 in Telluride, Colorado. (Submit your film or learn more.)

You’ve just spent a good chunk of time, and a larger chunk of cash, to finish your film. Congratulations. But now that it’s complete, a new kind of work begins. Even some of the best documentaries struggle to find an audience, and a film that screens to a sold-out crowd in one town might only attract 10 people at a film festival elsewhere. Or a film that won a respectable audience award somewhere might not even get into another festival at all.

People most often describe their experiences at Mountainfilm in Telluride, or from the tour shows that travel the world, as “inspiring” and, even, “life-changing.” We love that kind of feedback. But think about this: If Mountainfilm dramatically changed your life in some way, how could it affect kids?

We know the answer. Mountainfilm’s Making Movies That Matter has already reached over 700 students in classrooms. Our initiative offers teachers and students the chance to view a content-rich documentary and then learn how to use footage from that film to craft their own short video reactions to the themes and issues raised in it — a process that builds skills in critical thinking, visual literacy, creativity and technology. The response from both teachers and youth has been uniformly positive. We often hear many of the same words you use to describe our festival.

It’s movie season. Shorter days and holiday family time beg for cozying up on the sofa and watching some good flicks.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled dozens of shorts that screened at the 2011 and 2012 Mountainfilm in Telluride festivals. All you need to do is bookmark this page of shorts. Then, click on “film details” for any film you care to watch, and the film will play in a new window.

(If you like these films, please let us know, and we will go deeper into our archives to bring you more Mountainfilm movies.)

Don’t forget the popcorn.

On November 13, 2012, The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication reported that 88 percent of Americans now say they support action on climate change, even if it imposes economic costs. This is a huge change of heart for the American public compared to just a few years ago.

Why the sudden change? According to an article in Psychology Today, “Why America Changed Its Mind on Global Warming”: “People's perceptions of global warming shifted markedly, because the issue came to affect them intimately and locally. In the process, climate change ceased to be cerebral, wonky, and scientific — and became up close and personal.”

From China to Sierra Leone, Mountainfilm on Tour covers the globe. This weekend, Friday through Sunday (November 30-December 2), we'll be in Mill Valley, California, and hope to see the Bay Area show up en masse to see some special guests and films. Check out the Mill Valley schedule and purchase tickets. This trailer is a sneak preview of what to expect at the Throckmorton Theatre this weekend.

According to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales in 2012 will amount to $586.1 billion with online shoppers responsible for spending about half of that sum. We don’t have a statistic to translate those credit card transactions into mouse clicks, but suffice it to say ethernet hubs across the nation will be buzzing for the next four weeks.

We’ve discussed the problems with buying stuff before, but this time of year tends to drive consumerism. So as long as it’s shopping season, here are a few recommendations to guide your holiday purchases:

1.     If the people on your list don’t really need a new scarf or book, check out Charity Navigator and donate in their name to a cause they might like. The website works to guide intelligent giving and offers a thorough education of and vetting for many of the big charities in the world.

For the last eight years, National Geographic has combed the globe to find Adventurers of the Year, each selected for his or her extraordinary achievement in exploration, conservation, humanitarianism or adventure sports.

This year, Nat Geo focused on people who are adventure innovators: a surfer riding giants, a skier landing the first sit-ski backflip, a mountain biker pedaling across cultural boundaries, a BASE jumper falling from space and others. Out of their 10 adventurers this year, three have been guests of Mountainfilm in Telluride (Josh Dueck, Shannon Galpin, and Renan Ozturk), where we hope you had the opportunity to meet them in person.

From now until January 16, 2013, Nat Geo invites you to vote (once a day if you like) for the person who you think best embodies the spirit of adventure. The one with the most votes will earn the new People's Choice Adventurer of the Year.