Mountainfilm Blog

As attendees of Mountainfilm in Telluride know, the festival is not just about film. It also celebrates artists and authors, and we usually hand over the main stage to someone with a knack for words on paper. Some recent literary luminaries from that stage include Terry Tempest Williams, John Valliant and Pico Iyer.

With the holidays on tap, we put a call out to list of some of the best Mountainfilm books. We were inspired by our friends at Banff, who presented a panel called The Best Mountain Book Ever Written at their 2012 festival. Banff’s programming mission hews more closely to alpinism, so their choices reflect that focus, while Mountainfilm in Telluride’s interests are broader.

Of course,that only makes this assignment that much more foolhardy. As it was, one judge in Banff said that their task was “a utopian and elusive project,” while another — Bernadette MacDonald, an author herself (and a guest/judge at our 2012 festival) argued that “it is irresponsible for us to do this.”

This is the final blog in a three-part series about film festival submission by Emily Long, Mountainfilm in Telluride’s Program Director. (Read the rest of the series: part one, Making a Film is Only Half the Battle, or part two, The Secrets of Film Festival Selection.) Hopefully, these blogs 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.)

This is the second blog in a three-part series about film festival submission by Emily Long, Mountainfilm in Telluride’s Program Director. Part 1 was titled “Making a Film is Only Half the Battle.” Hopefully, this series 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.)

So you’ve filled out the application for Mountainfilm in Telluride, provided an online screener link and thrown down a credit card to pay the entry fee. Now what happens with your film behind the scenes?

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.”