Telluride Mountainfilm has a post-Christmas gift for the community this holiday week: skiing, snowstorms and winter stories on the big screen. The organization’s winter film night, titled “Shorts in Winter,” takes place Dec. 26 with screenings at 5 and 7 p.m. at the Sheridan Opera House.

Telluride Mountainfilm will focus on climate change for its 2017 symposium, titled “The New Normal.” The daylong symposium, which kicks off the May 26-29 festival, will unflinchingly delve into the most advanced science and newest developments that are critical to understanding the challenging situation. The symposium will look at the worldwide climate adaptations that are already changing the way we live, probe promising technology and innovation, and offer direct steps for the audience to effect positive change.

With snowplows beeping on the streets, a fresh blanket of white on the mountains and the Telluride Ski Resort set to open on Friday, winter has officially arrived in southwestern Colorado. Telluride Mountainfilm is excited to usher in the season with Mountainfilm for Locals on Friday with a program aptly titled “Winter is Coming: A Night of Shorts.”

One of the most common questions we hear at Telluride Mountainfilm is “I missed it at the festival. How do I see it now?” Because of distribution challenges and the nature of indie films, documentaries have long been among the toughest of the genres to watch outside festivals. But with new avenues for self-distribution and more online platforms than ever, it’s getting easier to find features year-round.

Two free screenings Thursday at the Wilkinson Public Library Lance Mackey is an Alaska native who has won the Iditarod dog sled race — an iconic event that spans 1,000 barren, remote and grueling miles across Alaska — four times. To win, Mackey had to overcome challenges even larger than mushing his team of dogs from the Alaska Range to the Bering Sea Coast.