- Mountainfilm in Telluride
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Mountainfilm in Telluride is America’s premier festival celebrating achievement in adventure and activism, culture and environment, held annually over Memorial Day weekend in Telluride, Colorado since 1979.
In addition to screening leading independent documentary films from around the world, the festival includes a full-day symposium on a pressing contemporary issue such as energy (2007), water (2008), food (2009) and the extinction crisis (2010). In addition to films and speakers, the festival includes art exhibits, book signings, student workshops and a forum for other non-profit organizations aligned with Mountainfilm’s mission and programming.
Founders include Royal Robbins, Lito Tejada-Flores, then president of American Alpine Club Bob Craig and Bill Kees with help from former Climbing magazine owner/publisher Michael Kennedy and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.
In the intervening years, Mountainfilm has hosted such notables as Wade Davis, Sir Edmund Hillary, Richard Holbrooke, Diane Feinstein, Galen Rowell, George Schaller, Phil Borges, Frans Lanting, Lynn Hill, David Brower, Pete Athans, Timmy O'Neill, Subhankar Banarjee, David Breashears, Norman Vaughan, Martin Litton, James Balog, Maurice Herzog, Gretel Ehrlich, Timothy Treadwell, David James Duncan, Julia Butterfly Hill, John Grunsfeld, Angela Fisher, Rick Ridgeway, and Carl Pope.
Some of the past films screened include Gasland, Sergio, Waste Land, The Cove, Taxi to the Dark Side, The Story of the Weeping Camel, Travellers and Magicians, Genghis Blues, Murderball, Who Killed the Electric Car?, and Grizzly Man.
Not to be confused with Telluride Film Festival, another festival held annually in Telluride over Labor Day weekend.
Contents
The History of Mountainfilm
The Mountainfilm festival began in 1979, a time when Telluride was completing its transition from a hard-rock gold and silver mining community to a destination resort and ski town. The new era would usher vital new energy and economic life into Telluride’s breath-taking box-canyon but, as they had been since the days of the Ute Indians, the changeless, rugged mountains would remain the leading attraction.
It was Lito Tejada-Flores, fresh from screening his now classic adventure and mountaineering film, Fitzroy, at the Trento festival in Italy, and Bill Kees, a local climber and avid outdoorsman, who inaugurated Mountainfilm in Telluride. Over three nights, at the historic Sheridan Opera House, they screened a dozen films, all about mountains: mountain sports, mountain cultures, mountain issues. During the days, the audiences took to the mountains themselves, climbing the thirteen and fourteen thousand-foot peaks surrounding Telluride, with skis on their backs, kayaking the San Miguel River, swollen with snowmelt, and engaging in spirited dialogue about the importance of wild places, adventure, art and action.
The first festivals attracted leading names in mountaineering and exploration – Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard and David Breashears, among others. With their help, the Memorial Day weekend event quickly became a not-to-be-missed tradition for an ever-expanding circle of pioneers in diverse fields, from athletes to environmentalists and from scientists to poets. Mountains soon became as much a metaphorical theme as a literal one and, as the festival expanded in size and recognition, its programming readily stretched to the leading edges of critical contemporary issues.
In 1999, Mountainfilm significantly grew the scope of its operation with the introduction of Mountainfilm on Tour. By taking festival films to theaters all across the country, and internationally, Mountainfilm accessed large and diverse new audiences that would otherwise have had no window into the filmmakers’ unique and important work.
Today, the Mountainfilm festival occupies dozens of venues in Telluride and Mountain Village and fills the two towns with inspiring thinkers and doers. In addition to showcasing leading independent films and filmmakers, the festival now includes symposia and panels, gallery exhibits of art and photography, book-signings, breakfast talks, student programs, music and street parties. The essential combination that first set the festival apart, though – friends, adventure, passion and powerful ideas – remains firmly intact.
Motto
Mountainfilm’s motto is “Celebrating Indomitable Spirit.”
Mountainfilm on Tour
Mountainfilm on Tour is the Mountainfilm road show. Begun in 2000, the tour travels to over 100 locations worldwide and serves audiences totaling over 30,000 people.
MF Mission Statement
Mountainfilm in Telluride is dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining.
External links
Categories:- Mountaineering films
- Visitor attractions in San Miguel County, Colorado
- Film festivals in the United States
- Documentary film festivals
- International film festivals
- Environmental film festivals
- Festivals in Colorado
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