Telluride Mountainfilm announces more 2010 film selections

Telluride Mountainfilm announces more 2010 film selections

The 32nd annual Mountainfilm Festival will be the biggest ever with more venues in operation, more special guests and more programming. Festival Director David Holbrooke describes Mountainfilm as thriving.
 
“We are particularly excited about the festival this year,” he says. “We have a very strong and varied lineup of films, speakers and artists. We have accomplished mountaineers like Ed Viesturs and Conrad Anker, but we also have artists like Maya Lin and Chris Jordan. We have environmental activists like Dave Foreman and Tim DeChristopher but we also have civil rights activists with two Freedom Riders coming to town.”
 
Among the films to screen in Telluride at the end of May, Holbrooke highlighted the following as examples of Mountainfilm’s depth and diversity:


 

"Barefoot to Timbuktu": In 1987, the Swiss-American artist Ernst Aebi found himself stranded at the Araouane oasis in the Sahara on the back of a camel. The few inhabitants were poor and extremely religious. Aebi decided on the spur of the moment to realise a self-help project with them. After three years, Western ambition clashed with Islamic tradition, and success with disappointment. Directed by Martina Egi.
 
"Eastern Rises": Kamchatka, a peninsula in the Russian Far East, may as well be at the end of the earth. Its enormous, wild landscape is threaded with rivers, swimming with massive mouse-eating fish and swarming with bugs and bears. With Bigfoot lurking in the nearby bushes, filmmakers and fishermen Ben Knight and Travis Rummel travel by decommissioned Cold War helicopters,  farther than any reasonable person should go for fish. 

"I Am": Tom Shadyac, director of blockbuster comedies like "Ace Ventura," "Liar Liar," and "Bruce Almighty," takes a decidedly different direction with his thoughtful new film, "I Am," which is an autobiographical documentary about how all of his huge success, achievements and wealth, did not bring him what he most wanted – happiness.

"Restrepo": The adage “war is hell” is certainly confirmed by this documentary about the American forward operating base Restrepo, in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, widely considered the most dangerous place in the world for an American soldier. Filmed over a  15-month period by intrepid co-directors—photographer Tim Hetherington and author Sebastian Junger—Restrepo shows how quickly tedium can turn to terror on the frontlines of a war. The film won the Grand Prize at Sundance 2010.

"Sons of Perdition": The Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints are an offshoot sect of the Mormon Church who practice polygamy. Aside from the moral issues, polygamy has a simple mathematical flaw: There are not enough females for the males. Sons of Perdition, directed by Tyler Measom and Jennilyn Merten, tells the story of what happens to the teenage boys of Colorado City, Utah, who are expelled from their families because they threaten the older men’s hold on the young women.
 
"Wasteland": Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist, photographs “recyclers” who work at the Jardim Gramacho landfill, one of the largest dumps in the world, just outside Rio de Janeiro. Muniz turns those images into stunning artwork that incorporates garbage from Gramacho. Director Lucy Walker captures the process of the artist closely, but the most compelling part of this story is that of the recyclers. Their jobs may be dirty, but their dignity is intact. 
 
"William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe": From the Chicago Seven activists to the American Indians at Wounded Knee, lawyer William Kunstler fought fierce battles for people who had little voice in our legal system. His core belief was that everyone—no matter the charge—should receive quality legal counsel.This film—made by Kunstler’s daughters, Emily and Sarah—not only recounts the historic cases their father argued, it also reveals a man who risked public outrage so that justice could serve all. 

About Mountainfilm: For 30 years, Mountainfilm has been committed to bringing ever-increasing levels of artistic excellence to its mission of educating and inspiring audiences about critical issues. The festival began as a venue to showcase climbing movies. It has grown to be a major proponent of adventure, awareness and activism. Celebrating indomitable spirit, Mountainfilm has the power to change lives. To learn more, visit our website. To join the conversation, please visit our blog, follow us on Twitter, and join us on Facebook.
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