Mountainfilm Blog

January 22, 2008 "We are running out of resources. We are using too much stuff." So says Annie Leonard on the web site The Story of Stuff, which I ran across the other day when I was Stumbling (Of course I would never stumble during work hours, ah-HEM). Did you know we have less than 4% of the original forests here in the US? Ouch. That's just one of the scary statistics Annie presents in her Story, which explains the consumptive process of turning raw materials into "stuff" like iPods, Blackberries, DVDs and cashmere sweaters.

When I was asked to participate on Mountainfilm’s blog, I was incredibly honored and then immediately terrified. I have nothing but the deepest respect and admiration for the people who work/participate in the festival. I was introduced to Mountainfilm last year when a short film I had done was accepted to the festival. The time I spent at Telluride genuinely changed my life and the way I saw the world. I often hear that nothing created by mankind can rival the beauty of nature. I might have to disagree. Mountainfilm, created and kept alive by passionate like-minded individuals is one of the most breath-takingly beautiful things I have ever witnessed. If you have an opportunity to see this living, breathing organism of passion, love and inclusion…you will never forget it. The two emotions that the festival volunteers, patrons and filmmakers exuded were passion and optimism. So that is what I would like to touch on here.

January 16, 2008 I have to admit that I spent a good part of yesterday outside, not in the office...not working on confirming guests, not logging new film entries and (gasp!) not posting my regular Tuesday blog.

This was me yesterday. Ok...so maybe it's not ME, persay...

Posted by guest blogger Kenny Laubbacher, filmmaker and activist with Invisible Children (Photograph of Kenny, with microphone, after his screening of "Emmy" at Mountainfilm 2007) January 11, 2008 Hey Guys, Last year I was extremely fortunate to be a part of the festival with a film called “Emmy: The Story of an Orphan.” “Emmy” is one the shorter documentaries created by the non-profit where I work: Invisible Children. Invisible Children is about the war in Uganda that’s been raging for 22 years. If you don’t know about it yet, you’re slipping!!! Check it out now: www.invisiblechildren.com.

January 8, 2008 We're still going to keep posting regular behind the scenes Mountainfilm staff posts at least every Tuesday, but the MF blog world is about to expand. Beginning this Friday, January 11, and continuing weekly every Friday, we'll be having different guest bloggers here on The Conversation, Mountainfilm in Telluride's official blog. Our first guest will be Invisible Children's Kenny Laubbacher, who brought his film Emmy: The Story of an Orphan to Mountainfilm in 2007. I'd tell you a bit about Kenny's story, but he tells it a lot better than I do. Click to watch Kenny's trailer for the film.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwWFiH8UXxA[/youtube]

Here's the schedule for guest bloggers through this month:

Jan. 11—Kenny Laubbacher (Filmmaker/Activist) Jan. 18—Jonathan Browning (Filmmaker/Comedian) Jan. 25—Steph Davis (Climber/Author) Feb. 1—Alison Teal Blehert-Koehn (Filmmaker/Adventurer) Thanks for reading! Posted by Emily Long

January 3, 2008 In researching for our Moving Mountains Symposium on Water today, I was reading a fascinating New York Times Magazine article today about water issues in the West. It begins: "As one prominent Western water official described the possible future to me, if some of the Southwest’s largest reservoirs empty out, the region would experience an apocalypse, 'an Armageddon.'"

December 24, 2007 This coming Wednesday night, the filmmakers Charlie & Willie Ebersol (Ithuteng, MF '05) will be hosting a special MF screening of their new doc on snowboarding/skateboarding phenom Shaun White, titled Don't Look Down.

Shaun White

The Skateboarder's Journal blog picked up the Telluride Watch story about the upcoming screening.