Author: Susan Viebrock
Trunk show at Dolce: Froman's award-winning bling featured
[click "Play" for Pamela Froman's conversation with Susan] 
This week in Telluride, not all that glitters is on the silver screen. A trunk show at Dolce Jewels, September 2 – September 4, features Pamela Froman's fine jewelry collection of handmade, one-of-a -kind, limited edition pieces comprised of multiple colors of precious metals (22 karat gold or platinum) and rare natural stones.
Born and raised in New York by her mother, the well-known sculptor and designer, Ann Froman, Pamela graduated from the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology. She subsequently moved across the pond, settling in Paris, where she began her career designing jewelry for the top couturier salons, including Courreges, Cacharel, Carita, Guy Larouche, and Valentino.
Art Walk just before Telluride Film Festival opens, 8/1
In Telluride, real jewels before screen gems and images on canvas open for the ones on the silver screen. Thursday, September 1, is the Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities' First Thursday Art Walk. First Thursdays are special: galleries and retail shops around town stay open late until eight.
Telluride Film Fest: free films in Elks Park in thanks
Despite its relatively small crowd size – about 3,000 attendees versus, say,10,000 for events such as Telluride Bluegrass - Telluride Film Festival, September 3 – September 6, brings in more sales tax revenue to both Telluride and the Mountain Village than any other single event. And it does so with minimal environmental impact. Equally important, the Telluride Film Festival has developed a worldwide reputation as to go-to spot for the unhyped celebration of the art of filmmaking. Telluride's reputation as the place to be results in hundreds of articles across the country and beyond each year, which reinforces the brand like no other festival can.
Finally, the Telluride Film Festival itself pumps well over $1 million into the local economy in staff salaries, lodging, food and other expenses. It is an economic engine without parallel. Neither the Festival nor the greater community would be the same without the other.
New Sheridan: place to be and be seen during Telluride Film Festival
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with GM Ray Farnsworth] 
This week, Telluride is positively a-glitter with gems, on screen and off.
There are real gems at local galleries too: The Telluride Gallery of Fine Art (Hollywood fav Lori Rodkin for one), Lustre (Gurhan) and Dolce (Pamela Froman and Katey Brunini, also Tinseltown queens).
The historic New Sheridan Hotel is another sparkler. The Grande Dame of the town – the heart and soul of the social scene 118 years ago, back in the days Telluride's streets were paved with gold – was restored to her Victorian splendor by world-famous interior designer Nina Campbell a little over a year ago. And this year, once again, the New Sheridan is the place to be and be seen over the Telluride Film Festival weekend.
Telluride Film Festival: Sibley's educational initiatives
[for Kate Sibley's conversation with Susan, click "Play"] 
The Telluride Film Festival is renowned as much for what it is not as what it is.
The Telluride Film Festival is a celebration of the art of filmmaking, not the Industry. It is also the great equalizer: everyone talks to everyone on the streets and in the lines. And it is about location: Telluride has to be one of the greatest sets in the world. The Telluride Film Festival's education initiatives also put it at the head of class among the roughly 2,000 film festivals around the globe.
Auntie Graffiti at Telluride's Sapsucker Studios for Art Walk, 9/2
[click "Play", Susan speaks to "Auntie Graffiti" (Jane Goren)]
Think of Auntie Graffiti as Telluride's answer to Auntie Mame: madcap, irreverent, fun-loving, funny, and free-spirited. Her thing is traveling the world painting portraits on paper toilet seat covers, though, like Mame, she is a scandalizer, not a vandalizer.
Sapsucker Studios, 299 South Spruce, opens the first exhibit of works by Auntie Graffiti September 2, 5 - 8 p.m., in conjunction with the Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities' First Thursday Art Walk, a walkabout to show off Telluride's art scene, when local galleries, studios and retail shops stay open late until 8 p.m.
Telluride-based The New Community Coalition: Tree Tour
[click "Play" to hear David Bangert speak about forest health in the Telluride region]
Join Telluride-based The New Community Coalition for a short hike around the Nature Center, Ridge area and top of Lift 7 in the Mountain Village to see what's happening with our trees and forests and the nasty things that love them: budworms, bark beetles, elk, and fungi.
Telluride Film Festival: tips for passholders
The official website of the Telluride Film Festival claims there is no better way to attend the event than as a passholder. Further, it states there is "no hassle" with a pass. True. Sorta kinda.
Especially for big buzz movies in the smaller venues (the Sheridan Opera House, the Masons and The Nugget) first-come, first-served means if you are a plain vanilla passholder, your lanyard may not get in unless you arrive super early, as much as 1 1/2 – 2 hours in advance of the scheduled screening. Even then, remember you are behind sponsors, patrons, students, and Hollywood entourages, who can show up when they wish and jump the queue. When that happens, your treasured numbered Q becomes just another piece of paper to recycle.
Telluride Film Festival 2010: No pass? Don't pass.
"This festival (the Telluride Film Festival) is characterized by its small size and friendly atmosphere. If there were a few key words to describe Telluride, they might include 'intimate' and 'down home,' just as easily as 'monumental' and 'important.'" (Elise Berlin, Boulder Daily Camera)
Even without a pass, the 37th annual Telluride Film Festival, 9/3 – 9/6, has something for almost everyone.
The Telluride Film Festival opens with free films sponsored by Ralph and Ricky Lauren. The four film premieres, one each night starting Wednesday, September 1, just after dark, (and a day before the cat is let out of the bag with the official announcement about screenings on the long weekend to come), takes place in the Open Air Cinema or Elks Park, just across the street from the Courthouse. (Telluride Inside... and Out will be posting details about those films on or around September 1.)