16 Jul Original Thinkers: Tickets on Sale Now for Event!
Telluride-based Original Thinkers (OT) is a thoughtful ideas festival this year scheduled for September 29 – October 2. The weekend generally features 10 programs, each built around a particular idea explored through a compelling mix of speakers, films, performance, and art, which delve into the human condition by focusing on the intersection of ideas and individual stories.
The following is a note from OT President Meredith Lavitt.
Dear Original Thinkers,
We are three months out from our fifth film festival and passes have just gone on sale. I am particularly excited to share this year’s dynamic program and we are grateful to be entirely in person this year.
The pandemic is still very much in our lives, but one thing it has reinforced for so many of us is the importance of gathering and connecting. At Original Thinkers, we are committed to fostering a community of original thinkers and offering a program that dives deep into the pressing issues of our time, but that provides hope and inspiration and a path forward to navigate the bumpy waters. That is why I love this year’s program and speakers so much – they are courageous and heroic and they think out of the box to find healing, empowerment, and be resilient. We all need a dose of this right now as our world feels like it is spinning backward and progress has halted as women’s rights are reversed, the war in Ukraine charges on, and this beautiful planet we call home is threatened by our lack of stewardship.
This year’s lineup will explore all these topics, but as a woman and a mother, one show, in particular, speaks loudest to me – THE JANES. The reversal of Roe v Wade has been a gut punch. My entire life I grew up with the right to choose and the right to govern my own body. My daughter is now 18 and these rights are being stripped away from her. It truly confounds me and saddens me how we got here, which is why I am so grateful we are screening the brilliant and timely film by Tia Lessin and Ema Pildes, “The Janes.”
I look forward to seeing you in Telluride this fall for the 2022 festival, where you can take in inspiring and thought-provoking shows, enjoy talented musicians and artists, and wander through the stunning mountains of Telluride to reflect and find a dose of healing.
In the spring of 1972, police raided an apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Seven women were arrested and charged. The accused were part of a clandestine network. Using code names, blindfolds, and safe houses to protect their identities and their work, they built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions. They called themselves Jane.
The Janes is about a heroic group of women, who in the pre-Roe v. Wade era, built an underground network for women with unwanted pregnancies and provide low-cost and free illegal abortions to an estimated 11,000 women.
Not only will we be hearing from the filmmakers and some of the Janes themselves at the festival, but they will also be joining our women’s circle. The women’s circle allows all female-identifying women to connect with each other in a safe space and discuss what’s on their minds. Having the Janes join the circle embodies everything it means to be an original thinker with resilience, hope, and action.
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