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There are more slaves today than at any point in human history.

- Ben Skinner

2008 Mountainfilm Festival Guests

Dick Dorworth

Laurie Garrett

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke

Rob Story

Azzam Alwash Dr. Azzam Alwash is the Director of the Eden Again Project. Born in Kut, Iraq in 1958, he spent much of his younger years in Nasseriya on the fringes of the marshlands. His father Mr. Jawad Alwash was the district irrigation engineer, and Azzam used to accompany him on trips into the marshlands to resolve water disputes. He left Iraq in 1978 as a result of the Baathist regime. He completed his Bachelor of Science (Civil Engineering) at California State University at Fullerton, and his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Subsequently, he worked for 20 years as a soils engineering consultant in southern California. In 1997, he became active in Iraqi expatriate politics. He is on the Board of Directors of the Iraq Foundation and the Iraqi Forum for Democracy. In August 2003, Azzam took a leave of absence from his consultancy practice to direct the Eden Again operations in Iraq. He now lives permanently in Iraq, dividing his time between Baghdad, the marshlands, and international speaking engagements.
Christiane Amanpour Christiane Amanpour is CNN’s chief international correspondent based in New York. Amanpour has reported on most crises from the world’s many news hotspots, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda and the Balkans. Her assignments have ranged from exclusive interviews with world leaders to reporting on the human consequences of natural disasters or covering events from the heart of war zones. She has received wide acclaim and numerous awards for her work, particularly for her extensive coverage of conflicts in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East. Amanpour’s recent work has focused on the production of a series of highly acclaimed long-form programs that have aired across the CNN networks. In 2007 she presented a six-hour series on the world’s three leading monotheistic religions and their defenders, God’s Warriors, and an in-depth examination of the growing Islamic unrest in the UK in The War Within. In 2006 Amanpour presented two outstanding award-winning documentaries, Where Have All The Parents Gone? a powerful film examining the plight of the more than one million children orphaned to AIDS in Kenya and a two-hour exploration of the life of the world’s most wanted terrorist, In the Footsteps of Bin Laden.
Conrad Anker Conrad Anker's specialty, simply put, is climbing the most technically challenging terrain in the world. This quest has taken him from the mountains of Alaska and Antarctica to the big walls of Patagonia and Baffin Island and the massive peaks of the Himalaya. Conrad's Antarctic experience spans a decade, with first ascents in three regions.
Dan Austin Armed with nothing but a digital camera, Dan Austin, his brother, and best friend set off across America with $10 a day on a pilgrimage to the National Basketball Hall of Fame. The travels were documented in the film, True Fans, recipient of the People’s Choice Award, given to the most popular film screened at the Banff Mountain Film Festival; it was also honored at Mountainfilm in Telluride as Most Popular Outdoors Film. True Fans has screened to audiences worldwide, everywhere from Nepal, to Iceland, to South Africa. Dan is also the director and host of the PBS Television series Tales From the Trail, an exploration of the legends and scenery of Utah’s back-country hiking and biking trails.
Frida Baranek Sculptor Frida Baranek studied architecture at the Universidade Santa Ursula Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She spent 1978-1983 at the Museo de Arte Moderna and the Escola de Artes Visuais in Rio de Janeiro. In 1984, she moved to New York, where she completed her master’s degree at Parsons School of Design in 1985. Baranek worked in Sao Paulo, Paris, and Berlin before returning to New York, where she resides today. Baranek is known primarily for large sculptural works that incorporate varied fibers and industrial scraps. Her work has been exhibited in the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paulo Bienal, the Metropolis in Berlin and the Museum of Modern Art. Her visit to Island Press was generously supported in part by the Women’s Society of Washington University in St. Louis.
David Breashears David Breashears is an accomplished mountaineer and filmmaker. Widely knkown as the first American to summit Everest twice, he has climbed extensively around the world. On Everest to film an IMAX movie in 1996, Breashears was integral to the rescue efforts of the disastrous events on the mountain that season. he directed the documentary, Remnants of Everest: The 1996 Tragedy, which played at Mountainfilm's 2007 festival. The film has been called the definitive expose on the subject. It has been lauded for its clear portrayal of the decisions that lead to deaths and injuries on that fateful trip.
Alton Byers Alton C. Byers, Ph.D. is a mountain geographer specializing in integrated conservation and development programs, applied research, and the development of mountain-based educational courses and materials. He received his doctorate from the University of Colorado in 1987, focusing on landscape change and human-accelerated soil loss in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Khumbu, Nepal. Following two years of integrated conservation and development work in Ruhengeri Prefecture, Rwanda, he joined The Mountain Institute (TMI) in 1990 as Environmental Advisor. Between 1993-94, he and his family were based in Khandbari, Nepal to help establish Nepal’s newest national park, the Makalu-Barun National Park and Conservation Area. During 1994-1996, he worked as founder and Director of Andes Programs in the Huascaran National Park, Peru; directed TMI’s Appalachian Program and Spruce Knob Mountain Center (SKMC) in West Virginia between 1998-2000; and currently works as Director of TMI’s Research and Education Program in support of all programs. Dr. Byers has worked and published on a variety of research, field managerial, and program development initiatives in the U.S., China, Nepal, India, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. Current initiatives include the study of human and cattle impacts on alpine regions of Nepal, Tibet, and Peru; glacial recession in the Everest region since 1953; co-editing of a new mountain geography textbook; and coordination of a new multi-year program designed to strengthen TMI’s institutional effectiveness, monitoring and evaluation capacities, and field-based impacts. On March 15, 2004, Dr. Byers received the Association of American Geographer’s Distinguished Career Award through the Mountain Geography Specialty Group.
Peggy Callahan Peggy Callahan is co-founder and Executive Producer/Communications Director of Free the Slaves and is regarded as the world’s premiere filmmaker on modern slavery. Ms. Callahan is a critically acclaimed television producer with over 15 years of experience in documentary production, series direction and production, news production and news anchoring. At Free the Slaves she has amassed a video library on modern slavery that is the largest in existence that is made freely available to people working to fight slavery. Her documentaries on modern day slavery have been broadcast domestically and internationally. Before launching Free the Slaves, Ms. Callahan served as Supervising Producer for the Discovery Health Network and Deputy Bureau Chief at Fox News Channel, where she oversaw all aspects of news gathering and production in the 19 Western states for the 24-hour news channel. She also was the executive producer on a number of shows for Oxygen, Fine Living and the Speed Channel. Ms. Callahan has won many media awards covering a range of national and international social justice issues. Her awards include the Golden Mike Award, the National Headliner Award, the Oppenheimer Award for Excellence in Children’s Programming and the Best of the West Award. Ms. Callahan graduated from San Diego State University, where she was a nationally ranked runner. She is affiliated with the Directors’ Guild of America.
Jodi Cobb Jodi Cobb specializes in large-scale, global stories exploring such topics as 21st-century slavery as well as more intimate stories set inside closed and secret worlds. A staff photographer for National Geographic, she has worked in more than 50 countries, primarily in the Middle East and Asia. Cobb was one of the first photographers to cross China when it reopened to the West, traveling 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) in two months for the book Journey Into China. She was the first photographer to enter the hidden lives of women of Saudi Arabia, welcomed into the palaces of princesses and the tents of Bedouins for a landmark article in 1987. And she was the first woman to be named White House Photographer of the Year. For her book Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art, Cobb entered another world closed to outsiders, the geisha of Japan. She was also given special access to photograph inside a different sort of closed world, the ill-fated Gore presidential campaign of 2000. Her photographs have drawn acclaim at exhibitions around the world.
Roger Cohen Roger Cohen, who became the The International Herald Tribune's first editor-at-large in 2006, began writing an Op-Ed column for the The New York Times in May 2007. At the same time, he became The New York Times's International Writer-at-Large. Mr. Cohen had been foreign editor for The New York Times since March 2002. Prior to joining The Times in 1990, Mr. Cohen was a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Cohen has written Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo, an account of the wars of Yugoslavia's destruction, and co-written a biography of General Norman Schwarzkopf, In the Eye of the Storm. His third book, Soldiers and Slaves: American POWs Trapped by the Nazis' Final Gamble was published in April, 2005. Mr. Cohen has won numerous awards, including the Peter Weitz Prize from the German Marshall Fund for dispatches from Europe, the Arthur F. Burns Prize, and the Joe Alex Morris lectureship for distinguished foreign correspondence by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Alexandra Cousteau Alexandra Cousteau is dedicated to advocating the importance of conservation and sustainable management of water resources for a healthy planet and productive societies. Her work as an environmental advocate extends across continents and finds her equally at home on oceanic expeditions, developing environmental initiatives for local communities, and speaking to heads of state and media on issues of social environmental importance. Alexandra is part of the third generation of Cousteau to devote their lives to exploring and explaining the natural world. She first went on expedition with her father Philippe Cousteau when she was four months old, learned to scuba dive with her grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau when she was seven, and grew up traveling the globe, inheriting her passion for adventure and learning firsthand the value of conserving the natural world. Devoted to inspiring concern and commitment for the environment in today's youth, Alexandra co-founded EarthEcho International with her brother Philippe to further her family's legacy in science, advocacy, and education. Alexandra is a PADI-certified Divemaster. When she's not traveling, she enjoys sculling, freediving, scuba and cave diving, biking, hiking, horseback riding, practicing martial arts and playing the guitar. Her next activity? Learning to fly a plane.
C. Lloyd Dallett A certain eight-year-old in the inner Mountainfilm circle called C. Lloyd Dallet’s paintings “pretty.” And the kid is right. Time and again, Lloyd manages to mix a variety of disparate styles, subjects and textures to create a painting that works beautifully. Often this takes the form of little pieces—almost a puzzle—that come together in a whole piece. This Santa Barbara-based painter depicts birds, flowers, food—really whatever moves her—and the result always moves us.
Wade Davis Wade Davis is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. He holds degrees in anthropology and biology and a PhD in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. He has authored a dozen books, including The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River, The Clouded Leopard, Light at the Edge of the World, and The Lost Amazon. In 2002 he received the Lowell Thomas Medal and the Lannan Foundation prize for literary nonfiction and in 2004 was made an Honorary Member of the Explorers Club, one of twenty so named in the hundred-year history of the club. His many film credits include the award-winning series, Light at the Edge of the World. A native of Canada, Davis has worked as a park ranger and forestry engineer and is a licensed whitewater guide. He divides his time between Washington, DC and a remote fishing lodge in the Stikine Valley of northern British Columbia.
Dennis Dimick Dennis Dimick serves as executive editor at National Geographic Magazine in Washington DC. He previously served as the magazine’s environment editor. His slide show “Where Energy and Climate Meet” focuses on the nexus between climate change, our energy choices, and a sustainable economy. Using photography and graphics from National Geographic stories, the show is based on three Sept. 2004 articles called “Signs from Earth” that document observed effects of climate change worldwide, and from other recent articles on fossil fuels and alternative energy. The show keys on the relationship between the burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas – and recent warming of earth’s climate. It presents a range of low-carbon energy choices we have available if we hope to stem the rising tides and other impacts of a warming planet. The Sept. 2004 “Signs from Earth” articles were cited in 2005 by the Overseas Press Club for best environmental coverage, and received second place from the Society of Environmental Journalists for explanatory journalism. An August 2005 article on alternative energy called ‘Future Power” was rated by the magazine’s readers as the most popular of the year. An Oregon native, Dimick holds degrees in agriculture and agricultural journalism from Oregon State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining the National Geographic staff in 1980, Dimick was a photographer and reporter at newspapers in Oregon and Washington, and served as an editor at The Courier-Journal of Louisville, KY. He and his family live in Arlington, VA.
Sylvia earle Sylvia Earle, called "Her Deepness" by the New Yorker and the New York Times, "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, and the first "Hero for the Planet," is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer with experience as a field research scientist. She also is executive director for corporate and nonprofit organizations, including the Aspen Institute, the Conservation Fund, American Rivers, Mote Marine Laboratory, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Rutgers Institute for Marine Science, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and Ocean Conservancy. Former chief scientist of NOAA, Earle is president of Deep Search International and chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. She has a B.S. from Florida State University, an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Duke University, and 15 honorary degrees. She has authored more than 150 scientific, technical, and popular publications, lectured in more than 60 countries, and appeared in hundreds of television productions. Earle has led more than 60 expeditions and logged more than 6,000 hours underwater, including leading the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970 and setting a record for solo diving to a depth of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). Her research concerns marine ecosystems with special reference to exploration and the development and use of new technologies for access and effective operations in the deep sea and other remote environments.
John Francis John Francis, Ph.D., is known the world over as the Planetwalker. In 1971, John witnessed an oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The effects of the spill compelled John to stop using motorized vehicles. Several months later, to stop the arguments about the power of one person's actions, he took a vow of silence. His non-motorized lifestyle lasted twenty-two years, and the silence seventeen. During that time John walked across the United States earning a B.A at Southern Oregon State College, an M.S. in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana and a Ph.D. in land resources at the University of Wisconsin. He later sailed and walked through the Caribbean and then walked the length of South America. John now travels the world speaking about his journey, sharing his unique perspective on the environment, and showing how we each can make a difference in our world. Dr. Francis is the author of Planetwalker: How to Change Your World One Step at A Time.
Peter Gleick Dr. Peter H. Gleick is co-founder and President of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources. Dr. Gleick is an internationally recognized water expert and was named a MacArthur Fellow in October 2003 for his work. In 2001, Gleick was dubbed a "visionary on the environment" by the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 1999, Gleick was elected an Academician of the International Water Academy, in Oslo, Norway and in 2006, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Gleick received a B.S. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations, and is the author of many scientific papers and five books, including the biennial water report, The World's Water, published by Island Press (Washington, D.C.).
Wade Graham Wade Graham is an environmental writer and historian who has written for The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Los Angeles Times, Outside and other publications. He is a trustee of Glen Canyon Institute, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, dedicated to restoring the canyons of the Colorado River, and editor of Hidden Passage, The Journal of Glen Canyon Institute. He holds a Ph.D in American history from UCLA (2006). His book on the environmental history of Hawaii: “Braided Waters: Environment, Economy and Community in Molokai, Hawaii” is forthcoming from the University of Hawaii Press. He is currently working on a book for HarperCollins publishers entitled American Eden: From the thirteen colonies to the present, what our gardens tell us about who we are (Pub date 2009).
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke Richard C. Holbrooke is Vice Chairman of Perseus, a leading private equity firm. He most recently served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, where he was also a member of President Clinton’s cabinet (1999-2001). As Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (1994-1996), he was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia. He later served as President Clinton’s Special Envoy to Bosnia and Kosovo and Special Envoy to Cyprus on a pro-bono basis while a private citizen. From 1993-1994, he was the US. Ambassador to Germany. During the Carter Administration (1977-1981), he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and was in charge of U.S. relations with China at the time Sino-American relations were normalized in December, 1978. He has received over twenty honorary degrees and numerous awards, including several Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
Pico Iyer Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist of Indain descent. Iyer joined Time in 1982 as a writer on world affairs and since then has traveled widely, from North Korea to Easter Island, and from Paraguay to Ethiopia, while writing seven works of non-fiction and two novels, and basing himself in rural Japan. Most of his books have been about trying to see some society or way of life - revolutionary Cuba, Sufism, Buddhist Kyoto, even global disorientation - from within, but with the larger perspective an outsider can sometimes bring. In between his books, Iyer writes up to a hundred articles a year for magazines on several continents. A regular essayist for Time since 1986, he writes on literature for The New York Review of Books, on globalism for Harper's, on travel for the Financial Times, and on many other themes for the New York Times, National Geographic, TLS and many others.
Chris Jordan Photographer Chris Jordan vividly documents the combined effects of our culture of consumption in his art, providing a unique perspective and commentary on the role we all play in mass consumerism. He is an internationally acclaimed photographic artist and activist whose work explores the detritus of American mass culture. Chris's work is exhibited widely in the US and Europe, and has been featured in magazines, newspapers, weblogs, documentary films and television programs all over the globe. A sought-after speaker on the subject of mass culture, Chris also has appeared on several television programs and is currently the spokesperson for National Geographic's Earth Day 2008. (more at www.chrisjordan.com)
Anne Keller Anne Keller is a Colorado based freelance photographer who shoots predominantly for the cycling industry. During the fall and winter of 2007 Anne worked closely with professional cyclist Tara Llanes photo journaling her recovery from a devastating spinal inury that left the racer paralyzed from the waist down. Anne's work on that project will be shown for the first time in a gallery format during this year's Mountainfilm. A frequent contributor to Bike Magazine, Anne has also shot for Sunset, 5280, Dirt Rag, Singletrack, Encompass and Mountain Biking, among others. She is currently continuing her work with Tara in an effort to create a piece that chronicles the physical and emotional journey associated with overcoming a serious injury.
Katie Lee Katie Lee is the grande dame of Western singers and environmentalists. She is an author, musicologist, folk singer, storyteller, actress, songwriter, filmmaker, photographer, activist, poet, and river runner. She is one of a handful of men and women who knew the 170 miles of Glen Canyon very well. She made sixteen trips down the river, even named some of the side canyons. Glen Canyon and the river that ran through it has changed her life, so it is not surprising that she has never gotten over her horror and disbelief at the destruction of this exquisite Eden drowned under 500 feet of Colorado River water behind Glen Canyon Dam.
Tara Llanes Professional mountain bike racer Tara Llanes is a 3 time Norba National Champion, ESPN X-Games winner, and has had numerous World Cup podium finishes for downhill and dual slalom. After qualifying for BMX Olympic tryouts this past fall in Beijing, Tara returned home to race the season's final Jeep King of the Mountain race in Vail, Colorado. During that race, Tara suffered a debilitating crash that left the cycling phenom paralyzed from the waist down. Tara spent 4 months at Craig hospital in Denver enrolled in a rigorous rehabilitation program before returning home to Southern California where she is currently continuing her physical therapy with an aim to regain what movement she can. Strong, dedicated, and determined, Tara has been inspiring others with her ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds in her quest to walk again.
Jennifer Lowe-Anker Jenni Lowe-Anker is a woman who lives life in the moment. She is a creative spirit and a risk-taker who prefers the road more passionate over the road more practical. It is an approach to life that informs all she does, from her work as an author, artist, and philanthropist, to her role as a wife and mother of three. An accomplished painter, Ms. Lowe-Anker renders whimsical, vividly colored contemporary Western paintings that draw on her imagination and childhood memories from working in the fields of her grandparents’ homesteaded property in Montana. The widow of renowned mountaineer Alex Lowe, she founded the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation and its Khumbu Climbing School to celebrate Lowe’s legacy as well as the Sherpas who risk their lives daily to make Himalayan climbing accessible to thousands. She lives in Bozeman, MT with her husband, Conrad Anker.
Bill Nathan When Bill Nathan was only 2-years-old his father developed a fever and died. Five years later, Bill’s mother came home from work totally exhausted. She went to bed and died in her sleep. Bill was 7-years-old. His sister, the only family he had left, was nine. The death of their mother forced Bill and his sister to be separated. His sister went to live with a friend of their mother and Bill went to live with an aunt. Bill became a live-in servant for his aunt, who abused Bill both verbally and physically. Everyday he was beaten with a leather strap. One day when he was at the open air market, Bill was befriended by a Catholic nun, Sister Caroline. She helped Bill get into school. Eventually, this angered Bill’s aunt because he was not available to work for her as she wanted. Bill’s aunt told him he could no longer go to school. Sister Caroline went to talk to Bill’s aunt, but could not change her mind. Sister Caroline saw how oppressed Bill was and her heart hurt for him. A few days later, she saw Bill at the market and called out to him. She told Bill she was going to take him to live someplace else. Bill trusted Sister Caroline. That very day, Bill was brought to St. Joseph’s, a five-hour drive from his aunt’s home. Today, Bill is 23-years-old. He is now the director of St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He is also the co-director of the Resurrection Dance Theater of Haiti and the St. Joseph’s Community Arts Center.
Nando Parrado Fernando Seler "Nando" Parrado, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, is one of the sixteen Uruguayan survivors of the airplane crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed in the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972. After spending two months trapped in the mountains with the other crash survivors, he, along with Roberto Canessa, climbed through the Andes mountains over a ten day period to find help. At the time of the Andes crash, he was a university student. In 2006 Parrado wrote a book about the crash, Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home.
Samantha Power Samantha Power is an Irish American journalist, writer, and academic. She is currently affiliated with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Power was born and raised in Ireland before emigrating to the United States in 1979. From 1993 to 1996, she worked as a journalist, covering the Yugoslav wars. When she returned to the United States, she attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1999. Her first book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, grew out of a paper she wrote in law school. It won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2003. A scholar of foreign policy especially as it relates to human rights, genocide, and AIDS, she is currently the Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Power spent 2005-06 working in the office of U.S. Senator Barack Obama as a foreign policy fellow, where she was credited with sparking and directing Obama's interest in the Darfur conflict. She served as a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign until she was forced to resign after referring to Hillary Clinton as "a monster" in an interview with The Scotsman in London. Power apologized for the remarks and resigned from the campaign shortly thereafter.
Chris Rainier Chris Rainier’s mission is to put wilderness and indigenous cultures on film. He is a National Geographic Society Fellow, co-directs the National Geographic Society’s Cultural Ethnosphere Program and directs the All Roads Photography Program. He is a contributing photographer for National Geographic Adventure magazine and a correspondent on photography for NPR’s Day to Day. His work is seen in Time, Life, Smithsonian, The New York Times, many National Geographic publications and in museums and galleries around the world. Chris is on the Mountainfilm board of directors.
Ken Roth Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch, a post he has held since 1993. Human Rights Watch investigates, reports on, and seeks to curb human rights abuses in some 70 countries. Mr. Roth has conducted human rights investigations around the globe, devoting special attention to issues of justice and accountability for gross abuses of human rights, standards governing military conduct in time of war, the human rights policies of the United States and the United Nations, and the human rights responsibilities of multinational businesses. He has written more than 80 articles and chapters on a range of human rights topics in such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, the International Herald Tribune, and the New York Review of Books. He also regularly appears in the major media and speaks to audiences around the world. A graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University, Mr. Roth was drawn to the human rights cause in part by his father's experience fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938. He began working on human rights after the declaration of martial law in Poland in 1981, and soon also became deeply engaged in fighting military repression in Haiti.
Jamie Rubin James P. Rubin is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. From May 2000 to December 2007, Mr. Rubin lived in London, working as a broadcaster, professor, commentator and communications consultant. Most recently, from October 2005 to October 2007, he was international news anchor and world affairs commentator for SKY news. Mr. Rubin served under President Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief Spokesman for the State Department from 1997 to May 2000. He was also a top policy adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. He conducted daily on-camera briefings for the State Department press corps and represented the administration in print, radio, and television interviews regarding U.S. diplomatic, foreign economic and national security policies. During the 2004 Presidential Election, Mr. Rubin served as Senior Adviser for National Security for John Kerry. Mr. Rubin was a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics from 2001-2004, a partner in the communications consultancy, the Brunswick Group, from 2001-2004, and in 2002 and 2003 the host of the PBS series Wide Angle, a primetime, weekly international affairs program. Mr. Rubin was Director of Foreign Policy for the Clinton/Gore '96 Campaign. From 1993 until 1996, he was Senior Adviser and Spokesman for the U.S. Representative to the United Nations. He lives in New York with his wife, Christiane Amanpour, and their son, Darius John Rubin.
Ben Skinner In 2003, as a writer on assignment in Sudan for Newsweek International, Skinner met his first survivor of slavery. He had first flown in under enemy radar with an Evangelical group purporting to buy slaves en masse to secure their freedom. Afterwards, on his own, he hitched a ride on a U.N. Cessna to the frontlines of the north-south Sudanese civil war. There he met Muong Nyong. Like Skinner, Nyong was 27 at the time, and pondering what to do with the rest of his life. Unlike Skinner, he had spent the first part of that life in bondage. After meeting Nyong, Skinner traveled the globe to find others like him. Scholars estimate the total number of modern-day slaves is greater than at any point in history. But the number means nothing, unless slavery means something. Skinner adopted a narrow definition: slaves are forced to work, under threat of violence, for no pay beyond subsistence. Though there are more slaves today than ever before, finding them would prove the most daunting challenge of Skinner’s professional life. Slaves languish in shadows, kept hidden by violent traffickers and masters. Going undercover when necessary, Skinner infiltrated trafficking networks and slave quarries, urban child markets and illegal brothels. In the process, he became the first person in history to observe the sales of human beings on four continents.
Maria Suarez I came to the USA in 1981, at the age of 16, full of dreams and goals. While I was learning to live in this country, I was offered a job. The job did not exist, instead — I was forced into modern day slavery. My nightmare began on the day I started working as a 'housekeeper'. I endured 5 years of torture, rapes, beatings, and mental, physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual abuse by the man who had bought me for 200 dollars. The nightmare did not end there. After those 5 years of torture a neighbor killed my enslaver for personal reasons. I did not speak English at the time, did not understand the law, and most of all, I was not capable of comprehending what was going on with the police or around me. During that year I went on trial, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for a crime that I did not commit. After serving 23 years - the Board of Prison Terms investigated my case and reported that I had been telling the truth for decades. I was not guilty. I was released by the Parole Board on Dec. 18, 2003. On the same day, I was arrested by immigration, because, as a permanent resident with a record of a major felony, I was bound to be deported. After five months and 7 days in San Pedro Detention Center, a group of lawyers working pro bono on my case were able to free me with a special Visa for Victims of Trafficking. This visa allows me to stay in this country for three years. My visa expired in May 2007, and my pro bono lawyers are working hard on my case to clean my records and allow me to remain in this country. Since my release, I have tried to remake my life, and enjoy the freedom I have only known for 15 out of my 47 years of age.
Lito Tejada-Flores Lito Tejada-Flores, along with another Telluride local Bill Kees, was largely responsible for cutting the ribbon on Mountainfilm in Telluride thirty years ago, and we are honored to welcome him back as a guest this year. Lito is author of one of the most widely referenced essays in the climbing world, "Games Climbers Play", which became the ideological basis for the British magazine Mountain. Lito is also a veteran ski instructor and author of the best-selling ski-instruction manual of all time "Breakthrough on Skis". (more at www.breakthroughonskis.com)
Norbu Tenzing Norbu Tenzing is the son of Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who made history in 1953 when he helped guide New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary to the first summitting of Mount Everest.
Lobsang Thinley Lobsang Thinley was born in Markham, eastern Tibet, on January 5th of 1966. When he was fifteen years old he joined a monastery in Markham. In 1987 he escaped from Tibet and traveled to India. This brave escape took one month. On the way he walked by Mt. Everest, numerous other mountains and many rivers. That same year he joined Drepung Loseling monastery in south India, where he studied buddhism for 20 years. In 1999 he got a special chance to learn how to make the sand mandala. In 2000 and 2001 Thinley and other monks toured America, visiting 30 states and built about 50 sand mandalas. Thinley also built many mandalas in Mexico and Japan. In 2001, after the 9/11 attack, Thinley built a sand mandala in New york and prayed for peace. Geshe Phuntsok, spiritual director of Asanga Institute and Vice president of Western Colorado Friends of Tibet, brought Thinley to Colorado to build sand mandalas throughout the western slope. We are honored to have Thinley in our presence, appreciate his warm and loving spirit and look forward to his spiritual sand creations.
Anita Thompson Author of The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Hunter S. Thompson (Fulcrum Publishing) Anita Thompson began working as Hunter S. Thompsons assistant in 1999, photocopying and doing bits of research. In 2000, she moved in and three years later they were married. Today, she continues to work in Hunters stead, publishing a magazine called The Woody Creeker and living on Owl Farm in the little town of Woody Creek outside of Aspen, Colorado. In The Gonzo Way, Anita Thompson pays tribute to her late husband as a writer and as a citizen, through her own words and through interviews with those who knew him best, including Tom Wolfe, George McGovern, and Douglas Brinkley. With elegant prose and entertaining anecdotes, she reveals a Hunter Thompson who was much more than a mere embodiment of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll.
Brad Udall Bradley H. Udall is the Director of the University of Colorado Western Water Assessment, one of eight NOAA-funded Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments designed to connect climate science with decision making. Brad was formerly a consulting engineer and principal at Hydrosphere Resource Consultants. As a member of the research faculty at the University of Colorado, his expertise includes water and policy issues of the American West and especially the Colorado River. Brad is a lead author on the water chapter of the overarching climate change synthesis document being produced for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. He was a co-author of a chapter in the recent Bureau of Reclamation Colorado River Environmental Impact Statement on allocating shortages and operating Lakes Powell and Mead during low flows. Brad has provided testimony for a Senate committee on climate change impacts on water resources and has received the Climate Science Service Award from the California Department of Water Resources for his work in facilitating interactions between water managers and scientists. Brad serves on the American Water Works Association Research Foundation expert panel on climate change and serves as an advisor to the Water Utility Climate Alliance, a collection of eight large utilities including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City.
Beth Wald In her photography, Beth Wald combines a thirst for adventure and exploration with a passion for the natural environment and fascination with the world’s diverse cultures. She belongs to that rarified club of photographers who can shuffle lenses, change film and take beautiful pictures in extreme conditions that have most people struggling merely to put one foot in front of the other. “I am drawn to harsh, wild places where life is both fragile and tenuous.” says Beth, “ where one’s sense of being alive is heightened by extremes of landscape and weather.” Her visual exploration of environment and culture has taken her around the globe, from the Arctic to the tip of South America, from Pakistan to Cuba, and from the icy Himalayan peaks to the stifling heat of East Africa’s Great Rift Valley. Beth’s most recent journeys have taken her into remote regions of Afghanistan and Tajikistan to photograph unique mountain tribes and their relation with wildlife and environment. Beth’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Sports Illustrated, NG Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Life, The New York Times, Men’s Journal and Islands. Her commercial work includes extensive assignments for adventure sportswear companies such as Patagonia, EMS and The North Face. She has collaborated on numerous books, and is currently working on a book project that documents the unique lives of the last of Argentina’s true gauchos. Beth Wald is based in Boulder, Colorado and is represented by Aurora Photos, a highly regarded agency specializing in photojournalism and unique stock.
Dave Wegner David L. Wegner has been involved in the design, coordination, and implementation of innovative scientific and rehabilitation programs in the western United States and internationally since the 1970’s. After over 21 years of working for the Bureau of Reclamation and Fish & Wildlife Service, he started his own company, Ecosystem Management International, which focuses on applying scientific and policy expertise to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem study, rehabilitation and management. David Wegner has worked on natural resource, water, and endangered species issues in South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Hawai’i and Idaho. From 1982 through 1996 Mr. Wegner was in charge of an extensive application of adaptive management and scientific study in the Grand Canyon culminating in the completion of the initial Glen Canyon Dam EIS on operations. His professional career includes work with the states of Minnesota, Colorado and Utah, numerous Native American tribes, the Department of the Interior and the private sector. He has received numerous commendations for public service, including recognition from the National Research Council, and is a recipient of the DOI’s Resource Management Award. Mr. Wegner has been involved the last several years on evaluating the potential of climate change on the hydrology of the Colorado River basin and the resulting impacts species that live on the Colorado Plateau.
Shaun White Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986 in Carlsbad, California) is an American athlete. He has been a notable competitor in professional snowboarding since he was fourteen years old, but is also known for his skateboarding. Shaun spent his formative years riding Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, at Big Bear a small ski resort found in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Shaun honed his skills on the now defunct Westridge snowboard park. White has been a participant in the Winter X Games, where he has medaled every year since 2002. Including all winter X Games competitions through 2008, his medal count stands at 12 (7 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), including the first four-peat winner by a male athlete in one discipline, the snowboard slopestyle.