Film

 

"The Apple Pushers," kicks off the weekend, when Mountainfilm in Telluride returns to the Big Apple, October 21 – October 23, for an encore program at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre.

"Apple Pushers" is not about the friendly folks who sell bites out of the technological magic "The magician" (The Economist, October 8 – 14), Steven Jobs conjured. The documentary features a whole other category of vendors.

"The Apple Pushers," written and directed by Mary Mazzio, narrated by Edward Norton, and underwritten by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, follows immigrant street vendors who roll fresh fruits and vegetables into the inner cities of New York, where finding a fresh red ripe apple can be a serious challenge. These pushcart vendors, who have immigrated here from all parts of the world are now part of a new experiment in New York to help solve the food crisis and skyrocketing obesity rates, particularly in the inner city.

by Peter Kenworthy, Executive Director

Editor's note: Mountainfilm in Telluride is the festival that keeps on giving. Earlier this month, on October 5, Mountainfilm in Telluride awarded $25,000 in grants. This coming weekend, Mountainfilm on Tour hits the Big Apple with a weekend program, October 21 – October 23, at New York's prestigious Lincoln Center. Look for Telluride Inside… and Out's coverage of that event in a series of posts this week. Below is the skinny on the grants.

Representing a highly diverse scope of projects – from a biographical film about a living legend of Himalayan mountaineering to a photographic exploration of art and activism in the aftermath of Japan’s recent tsunami, Mountainfilm Commitment grantees will receive $5,000, each, as well as a new MacBook Pro. The winning applicants were chosen from a field of over 100 contenders. Mountainfilm introduced its granting initiative last year as a means to help ensure that important stories are told – and heard.

 

 

I guess I recognized I was different at my first Halloween party in college. There I stood, white-chalked face and spiked black hair, with eight pairs of scissors taped to my fingers, a ghoulish version of Edward Scissorhands; I was surrounded by a bunch of sexy kittens, lingerie-clad angels and Playboy bunnies. Needless to say, I didn’t reel in any dates that night.

It was then that I realized there are two types of people in the world: People who like horror movies and people who don’t. Not everyone likes to be scared, so if you find yourself in the latter camp, you might want to skip to the next article or go shop online for a cute Halloween costume, something with ears or a thong. If you belong to the cloister of us who revere ghost stories, scary movies and spooky urban myths, read on. We’ve got a festival for you: the second annual Telluride Horror Show, October 14-16.

Octoberfilm The Telluride Film Festival is not just one long weekend that happens to be the high-water mark of Telluride's summer festival season. The "Festival" is really shorthand for creative movie events it hosts throughout the year. Sunday at the Palm takes place once a month at the Michael D. Palm Theatre and focuses on family entertainment. Cinematheque, a joint venture between Film Festival and Telluride's five-star Wilkinson Public Library, is a film club and vehicle for cinephiles in the region to watch and discuss great film. Like Sunday at the Palm, Cinematheque is free.

The 2011/2012 Cinematheque program is a six-part series programmed by Telluride Film Festival co-director and film scholar Gary Meyer, who created "Ciao Cinema" as an inspiring journey through the evolution of Italian film, including a look at the work of iconic directors such as Vittorio de Sica, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and others. 

 

Roger.rabbit poster The Telluride Film Festival, in collaboration with The Telluride Foundation and the Telluride R1 School District, launches the 2011/2012 program of its ongoing series, Sunday at The Palm.

The first screening takes place Sunday, September 25, 4 p.m. and is FREE to all. The featured film is "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Special guest, local Jeff Price, the film's screenwriter, plans to be on hand to discuss his film-noiresque mystery and answer questions.

In Bon Temps, Louisiana, it's vampires. In this 1988 film, a collaboration between Disney Studios and Steven Speilberg, it's Toons and humans who co-exist in a 1947 Hollywood world. The story centers around Roger Rabbit (voice of Charles Fleischer) who has been framed for the murder of gag-gift king Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye).  Acme was photographed playing patty cake with Roger’s wife Jessica Rabbit (voice of Kathleen Turner), and so Roger appears to have clear motive for the dastardly deed.

 

Telluride Inside ... and Out was pleased to be in the audience for the first screening of Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" on Friday afternoon of the Telluride Film Festival.  Scheduling dictated waiting until Sunday morning to enjoy the George Clooney tribute.

Check out the video for a sense of Todd McCarthy's interview with George, director Alexander Payne and actress Shailene Woodley after the showing of the movie.

(Ed. note: This is a bit late but here is the film schedule for after the Festival) Telluride Film Festival AfterFest at the Palm Tuesday 7:15 - KID WITH A BIKE – 87 min 9:15 - FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD -109m-------------Wednesday 7:00 – LE HAVRE- 103m    9:15 – WE NEED...

Show For the second year in a row, a King George dominated the Telluride Film Festival. Last year, it was King George VI, whose life and stutter were immortalized in director Tom Hooper's golden "The King's Speech." This year was all about a second King George, a man who rose from a humble background, the son of a former Army dj, to rule Telluride – at least for the long Labor Day weekend. I am talking of course about actor George Clooney, a tributee at the 38th annual celluloid celebration of the art of filmmaking. (He threatened to wear the metal medallion he received at his tribute through airport security.) Virtually every other superstar in town – and there were plenty – walked in Clooney's shadow.

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.

Here's why. Your pass entitles you to seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Even then, not so much, because passholders are not created equal.

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 you 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.

[ click "Play", Gary Meyer discusses TFF 2011 features with Susan Viebrock]

 

GaryMeyer
Co-director Gary Meyer

The people who make the popcorn seem to know what they are doing. Let's give them a hand. Apparently so do the people who put together the Telluride Film Festival. Let's find out more.

The Telluride Film Festival built its acclaim as buzzmeister extraordinaire over 38 years by celebrating the art, not the business, of filmmaking. From the get-go, Festival founders and directors emeriti Bill and Stella Pence and current director Tom Luddy, also co-founder, plus Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger became renowned for turning their backs on The Industry, Hollywood shorthand for special effects, mind-numbing plots, testosterone-fueled blood and gore fests, blockbusters, crowd-pleasing franchises, bad guesses, and good luck. Telluride, on the other hand, puts the spotlight on intelligent storytelling and superior filmmaking to create a rich stew that is a seductive mix of past and present, foreign and domestic, obscure and accessible, dark and light, long and short, features and documentaries.