Mountainfilm Blog

How did you find us on Facebook? Are you a fan of the festival or simply someone who likes our social media content? The reason we ask is that, while we’re grateful for the roughly 5,500 “likes” on Facebook, we'd like to reach more people with our news about climate change, viral behind-the-scenes videos, inspiring art and the other content we share.

Which brought us to the next question: What if each one of you on Facebook convinced at least one friend of yours to like us? That would, obviously, double our readers. Reaching over 10,000 people would be magnificent.

The 2013 Oscars are over. The press has critiqued Seth MacFalane’s performance as host, and over 100,000 people have watched Jennifer Lawrence on YouTube as she trips on her dress while climbing the stairs to receive her award. But what’s really worth review is the short film Fresh Guacamole, which was nominated for Best Animated Short.

At just 1 minute and 40 seconds long, Fresh Guacamole is the shortest film to have ever achieved an Oscar nomination. We showed it at Mountainfilm in Telluride in 2012, and although it didn’t win an Academy Award for its stop motion animation, the film, which reveals the making of a bowl of guacamole without any food ingredients, is well worth 100 seconds of your appreciation.

From climbers who wiggle up near-impossible first ascents to artists who illustrate cultural or political issues from a new perspective, our guest roster is always filled with individuals who tackle a variety of challenges.

We, and our audiences, find inspiration in their stories, but what inspires the inspired? We offer this quiz to test your mettle. (Answers with links to the sources follow.)

1. Who or what led Paul Watson to devote his entire adult life to the defense of whales and other creatures of the sea?

• A: Jacque Cousteau
• B: a boyhood sailing trip
• C: a whale’s eye
• D: Saturday morning cartoons

2. Author, environmentalist and climate change activist Bill McKibben found inspiration from…

Our festival director, David Holbrooke, often says, “It takes a village to make Mountainfilm.” And if you’re reading this blog, you’re part of the village. We announced the topic for the 2013 Moving Mountains Symposium recently, but we’re still in the planning stage for the festival, so we’d love to hear about the people you admire. Who do you think we should bring to Telluride, Colorado, as a guest for Mountainfilm 2013?

Mountainfilm Announces Climate Solutions as Symposium Theme for 2013.

Journalist John Hockenberry, activist Tim DeChristopher, scientists Daniel Nocera and Terry Root among featured speakers.

Telluride, Colorado (February 4, 2013) – Record hot temperatures were recorded around the world in 2012, evidence of a planet that is heating up even more rapidly than expected by scientists. Against the backdrop of this disturbing news, Mountainfilm in Telluride will offer real hope by focusing its 2013 Moving Mountains Symposium on the key issue of climate solutions.

Not long ago, Adventure Journal posted this snippet of a boogie boarder’s amazingly long tube ride, and editor Steve Casimiro summed up the video perfectly with these words:

Boogie boarding doesn’t get much respect. It lacks the nobility of surfing or body surfing and always will. Perhaps it’s because the boards can be purchased in toy stores instead of surf shops, like, you know, Costco. Perhaps it’s because it requires little skill. Perhaps it’s because anyone can do it. But isn’t that what’s awesome about boogie boarding? — that anyone can and so many have? This short little video, a snippet from a full-length film, captures Ewan Donnachie riding inside a Skeleton Bay, South Africa, wave that goes on seemingly forever. Every time you think it’s going to close out, nope, the window opens and there’s that liquid wall feathering at the top. Take a peek: Then file this link away for inspiration next time you’re heading to the shore.

Historians call them “pivot points,” times in history when the world can go in one direction or another. It seems as if we are currently at one of those junctures right now with the looming specter of climate change.

The earth is clearly warming and at a much faster rate than scientists originally predicted. The resulting catastrophes — Australian wildfires, Texas drought, Superstorm Sandy and more— are only getting more dramatic. The question is: What do we do about this situation that, to borrow novelist Tom Clancy’s wording, is “a clear and present danger?”

At Mountainfilm in Telluride, we’re going examine this climate scenario and figure out what we can do as a festival, a community and individuals to change it. That’s why this year’s Moving Mountains Symposium will focus on climate solutions.

The good news is that the scientists who study this subject closely feel there are still big steps to take to stop the warming of the planet. The bad news is that those same people say there isn’t any time to waste.