Get TIO in your Inbox!

INSIDE MOUNTAINFILM IN TELLURIDE: GREG MORTENSON

23 Feb INSIDE MOUNTAINFILM IN TELLURIDE: GREG MORTENSON

Posted at 07:20h in Mountainfilm in Telluride by
0 Likes

 An Update from Outside Magazine

Audiences at Mountainfilm in Telluride have known about Greg Mortenson and his book Three Cups of Tea for nearly a decade because he’s been a guest at several festivals. Ten months ago, reports by “60 Minutes” and Jon Krakauer shattered Mortenson’s past, present and future with allegations of financial impropriety and personal fabrications. Mortenson has been publicly quiet since the, but as Outside magazine’s Alex Heard reports, Mortenson — and the world around him — is very much in turmoil.

Follow this link to Alex’s story.

Editor’s note: Follow this link to find out what we wrote following the 2011 panel discussion at Mountainfilm in Telluride 2011.

2 Comments
  • Patrick O'Reilly
    Posted at 15:36h, 07 March

    I read the links to Telluride Film Festival 2011 and OUTSIDE article. It seems like the Telluride festival staged a mob lynching of Greg Mortenson in order to get publicity and a turnout. I’m not convinced that Mortenson is a ‘scum-bag’ and the equivalent of Bernie Madoff, as the festival called him, and withhold any judgement until the legal investigation of Mortenson is complete.

    • David Holbrooke
      Posted at 13:22h, 09 March

      Dear Patrick –

      Thank you for your comment about the Mountainfilm coffee talk on Greg Mortenson. First of all, the festival is “Mountainfilm in Telluride,” which is not to be confused with our friends at the Telluride Film Festival. Secondly, we did not “stage a mob lynching” for “publicity and a turnout.” Turnout grows every year, and publicity did not focus upon Greg’s presence. Greg Mortenson’s situation, which is deeply upsetting to us at Mountainfilm, was unfolding as the 2011 festival started, and because Greg had been to the festival many times (and our audience owns countless copies of “Three Cups of Tea”), we wanted to acknowledge it by attempting to present a thoughtful and balanced look at the Central Asia Institute and what was happening with Greg. Quite honestly, it did not work out as we hoped. Guests were harsher on Greg than we anticipated, and we did not achieve the balance we envisioned. My personal take is that Greg has done a lot of great work — and made some big mistakes — and I do hope he manages to get his mission back on track.

      All the best,
      David Holbrooke