Mountainfilm in Telluride's 34th Annual Festival 2012

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 16 May 2012 17:46

Written by Joanne Choi

Opening Memorial Day weekend, May 25-28 2012, Mountainfilm in Telluride will host its 34th annual festival in Telluride, Colorado with over 70 films for screening along with various attendees ranging from scientists, artists, writers, adventurers and filmmakers.

This year’s films deals with the reality of humanity, the environment, culture and societal issues.

<p >Established in 1979, Mountainfilm in Telluride is dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences about environments, cultures, issues and adventures. Working at the nexus of filmmaking and action, its flagship program is the legendary Mountainfilm Festival — a one-of-a-kind combination of films, conversations and inspiration.

<p >Mountainfilm also reaches audiences year round through its worldwide tour, on Outside Television, with its online Minds of Mountainfilm interviews and in classrooms through its educational outreach initiative, Making Movies that Matter. Mountainfilm has the power to change lives.

The year's festival highlights include:

• Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry -- Artist Ai Weiwei is a major cultural and political force in China whose fearlessness shines through in this inspiring documentary by first-time filmmaker Alison Klayman.
• Fambul Tok: This deep and powerful film tells the story of a way to forgiveness in Sierra Leone after a brutal civil war left the country riven.
• The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom: This stunningly beautiful film by Lucy Walker (director of Waste Land) movingly melds the seemingly disparate topics of the Japanese tsunami and the onset of the traditional Cherry Blossom season.

Said Festival Director David Holbrooke, “With the symposium theme of population, we have several outstanding films that look at critical environmental, cultural and social issues that will blow people away,

"And then, sometimes there are films that don’t fit any particular genre, but they have a place at Mountainfilm because they’re outstanding and celebrate indomitable spirit.”

Holbrooke added, “And much of what you take away from a film is what you bring to it —your mood, energy and receptivity to new ideas — but I feel that all of these films in the list will resonate with audiences in a real and sustained way.”

Mountainfilm’s 2012 selections also include:

• Bidder 70: Telluride filmmakers Beth and George Gage tell the unprecedented story of climate activist Tim DeChristopher, who has taken civil disobedience to a new level.
• Big in Bollywood: This rollicking fun, feel-good tale is about a Californian-born actor with little connection to his parents’ homeland of India until he’s asked to audition for a role in a Bollywood film, which turns out to be a hit and turns his life upside down.
• Chasing Ice: Photographer James Balog set up time-lapse cameras and focused these truth-tellers on glaciers around the world. The result is a ground-breaking — or glacier-breaking — film about climate change and a harbinger of an uncertain future.
• Darwin: This elegiac and haunting story about a small, remote Californian desert town weaves together the story of its boom/bust mining history, the mysterious nearby military base where secret weapons are tested, and the unforgettable residents who have chosen to live life on their own terms.
• Ethel: Rory Kennedy, the youngest daughter of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy, made this touching and tender, yet surprisingly funny, film about her mother.
• Living Downstream: Sandra Steingraber is a quietly powerful voice who makes the link between our environment and our health by telling her own story and extrapolating it to the many unnatural toxins in our world.
• Winter's Wind: Skiing is life. That’s the motto for this allegorical — yet very real — ode to the ski bum.

In addition to film screenings, attendees will experience the joy of numerous live performances, social events, gallery reception, presentation, panel discussion, and special programs.

For more information on the good things to come and a detailed schedule, check out www.mountainfilm.org/festival

To learn more, visit www.mountainfilm.org

To join the conversation, please visit the Mountainfilm in Telluride blog, follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Mountainfilm in Telluride 34th Annual Festival
May 25 - 28, 2012

Telluride, Colorado

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