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Festivals

 

RA- MBposterbio Marcia Ball hit the jackpot with her name. It defines the lady and her talent, as in Marcia Ball is:

“More fun than a barrel of funky monkeys. Spicy, Texas-Louisiana blues, rock 'n’ roll and boogie-woogie...awesome piano,” National Public Radio

Translation: The lady is, well, a ball. And those around have – you guessed it - a ball.

Singer/pianist Marcia Ball joins Willie Nelson, Mavis Staple, The Robert Cray Band, Dweezil Zappa, BIg Head Todd and the Monsters on long list of talent performing this weekend at Steve Gumble's rocking, rollicking 18th annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival.

15 September, 2011 /

Mountainfilm Educational Initiative Garners Praise and Renewed Support

Making Movies that Matter, an educational outreach program launched by Mountainfilm three years ago, has received renewed funding by Colorado Creative Industries (CCI - formerly The Colorado Council on the Arts).  In a particularly competitive climate, the program received high marks from the state agency that receives its funds, in part, from the National Endowment for the Arts. This marks the second time in three years that the state arts agency has approved grant funding for Mountainfilm’s program. This year the amount of the award, $8,500, has nearly doubled. Members of the CCI grant selection committee echoed former praise for Making Movies That Matter, citing its “relevance, excellent teacher materials, strong implementation capacity, high quality of film artists and its impact on kids.”

Making Movies That Matter introduces middle and high school students to vital global issues through the medium of documentary films. Following critical content analysis, the students are taught basic editing techniques and, with permission from the filmmakers, distill the films they have studied into their own shortened renditions, adding graphics, music, voiceovers and other editorial elements of their choosing. The best of the student films are then showcased at Mountainfilm’s annual festival.

08 September, 2011 /

 

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.

07 September, 2011 /

(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...

06 September, 2011 /

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.

06 September, 2011 /

[click "Play" to listen to Mickey Raphael's conversation with Clint]

 

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Willie (Danny Clinch photo)

Willie Nelson and Family are the Sunday night closer for the 18th Telluride Blues and Brews Festival (September 16-18, 2011). "Willie Nelson?" you ask. "At Blues and Brews?" Well, yes. Because Willie can do it all. Case in point: Have you listened to  Willie's "Stardust" album? I rest my case. And a key part of the Willie Nelson sound is the harmonica of Mickey Raphael.

Raphael has been part of Willie's band for some three decades, and unless you have paid attention you might not have noticed: he is the consumate side man. But take that harp out of the mix and guaranteed you would miss it.

06 September, 2011 /

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

 

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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.

01 September, 2011 /
click "Play" to hear Gary Meyer talk with Susan about this year's tributees at TFF]

 

The Descendants
"The Descendants"

Every year, since the event got off the ground in 1974, The Telluride Film Festival, known locally as The SHOW, paid tribute to artists whose contributions resonate throughout the medium. Thirty-eight years ago, the first tributees were Gloria Swanson, Francis Ford Coppola, and Leni Riefenstahl.

The list of Telluride Film Festival honored actors swelled over the years to include Jack Nicholson, Gerard Depardieu, Clint Eastwood, Isabelle Huppert, Jodie Foster, Klaus Kinski, Shirley MacLaine, Toni Collette, Daniel Day Lewis, Viggo Mortensen, and part-time local (she met her husband Marc Schauer, her V.I.P host, when she was honored in 2004), Laura Linney.

01 September, 2011 /
[click "Play", Gary Meyer highlights the documentaries for TFF 2011]

 

George Harrison
George Harrison

The sun is shining bright yellow and the sky over Telluride is Colorado blue. But this weekend, people who like watching people making well-lit, larger-than-life spectacles of themselves will burrow in dark theaters. This weekend, September 2 – September 5, is the 38th annual Telluride Film Festival.

And it is not just about the full-length features. Documentaries are given equal prominence. Festival attendees applaud the shorts. (The directors and their appendages screen about 1,000 each year to make their picks.) Audiences also love some of the treasured restorations, often set to music.

01 September, 2011 /
[click "Play", Gary Meyer talks about who's coming to Telluride]

 

"Telluride is the best film festival in the world," Clint Eastwood

Glenn & Mia
"Albert Nobbs"

Once the vow of silence is lifted – now – and the world gets to know what's in store at the 38th annual Telluride Film Festival, Friday, September 2 – Monday, September 5, the fun begins and not just on the silver screen. All around town.

Only the Telluride Film Festival goes to the great expense of importing films and talent from all over the world, because Festival directors – Julie Huntsinger, Tom Luddy and Gary Meyer – believe in the importance of establishing an artistic as well as screen presence. So this weekend, actors, directors, cinematographers, editors, producers as well as critics, distributors and buffs walk side by side on the streets or stand in line blabbing about films. Everyone shows up in Telluride because the event is regarded as a jewel among film festivals, sans hype or hoopla.

01 September, 2011 /