Friday 9/24, Portland: Telluride Film Festival

[el-bagr]

Maine T4Ters and others, a public service announcement: it's that time of year again. The Telluride Film Festival will be playing at the State on Friday 9/24 in Portland. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets are $10 in advance, $13 at the door.

I will be there, and you should be there too.

The film menu for Portland, courtesy of Chestnutmtnproductions:

HE DANCES FOR HIS CORMORANTS - Best Environmental Advocacy Film
Frederic Fougea, (France, 26 min)

A classic and an all time favorite of many Mountain Film Festivals attendees. A marriage, an egg, and a birth lead to the charming story of Zong Man and his cormorants. This tradition which has survived more than 1000 years, man and nature in balance, continues to sustain the people of the Li River among China's Celestial Mountains.

L'esprit de la Coupe Icare 1994 FESTIVAL SPECIAL JURY MENTION Sport/Parapenting (France, 1994, 11') Produced: TF1|Protécrea; Director:Gilles Santantonio

Every year a special hand gliding and parapenting competition takes place at St. Hilaire du Touvet.

FALLING
John Armstrong (Mexico, 2004, 5 min)
This short film is both a thrill ride and a meditation about harmonizing with the awesome forces of nature. Featuring the waterfalls of Agua Azul, Mexico, and kayaking legends Hayden Glatte and Lars Holbek, this film will take you on an unforgettable ride through waterworld.

I NEED TO CATCH A FISH
Howard Donner & Robert Murphy (United States, 2004, 11 min)
Filmmaker Howard Donner was ejected from a whitewater raft that he was guiding and landed on a story. As he was recovering from his ailments on the riverbank, he met a hermit named Kelly C., who appeared with a poultice made of blanched comfrey leaves. In the days that followed, Donner had many discussions about living the simple life with a man who dines on the local cuisine of wild mushrooms, acorns, fish and the occasional road-killed deer. The film follows Kelly on a typical day, and is ultimately less about what he does and more about his simple yet poignant philosophy. "I Need to Catch a Fish" touches on aspects of freedom and the typical human addiction to collect more stuff. It speaks to living each day, and relishing in the simple pleasures that every day brings.

PSICOBLOC: WINNER, BEST CLIMBING FILM, 2004
Josh Lowell (United States, 2004, 8 min)
Austrian Klem Loskot, a world-renowned boulderer, has found a more satisfying form of climbing, called "deep water soloing" by the Brits, and Psicobloc by the Spanish. The overhanging limestone walls of Mallorca provide perfect opportunities to forge routes sans ropes with the Mediterranean Sea 60 feet below as a sensual crash pad.

SINNERS Bill Heath (Canada, 2003, 24 min)
"I resigned from work fifty years ago! And what did I do besides read and write, but climb mountains, ski and make love to a wonderful woman."
-DR. A. J. SNOW
Coupling the recorded wisdom of 100-year-old physicist A.J. Snow with three years of filmmaking in deep, deep British Columbia snow, Bill Heath pointedly avoided corporate sponsorship and the accompanying norms of "extreme" shooting. He created a simple work that speaks to his own love of powder. The music, the joy and the beautifully patient photography make us aware of the exquisiteness of the gasping-for-air moments that only come from the deep and the light.

RIVER RUNNERS OF THE GRAND CANYON
Don Briggs, (US, 8 min)
No one knows more about Grand Canyon history than river runner/filmmaker Don Briggs...three choice vignettes from Katie Lee to Bill Beers.

PURE
Joachim Hellinger, (Germany, 3 min)
Two snowboarders find the perfect ride and remember the days when it all began.

PETER MATTHIESSEN AND WHOOPING CRANES
Steve Robitaille & Leslie Gaines (United States, 2004, 5 min)
Few authors so artfully span the worlds of fiction and non-fiction as Peter Matthiessen (The Snow Leopard, Killing Mr. Watson), and few subjects so hold his attention as birds, whether in Tibet or Central Florida. To chronicle the arrival of the first whooping crane chick born east of the Mississippi in over a hundred years - the result of an international restoration project - Matthiessen joined an expedition that provided him the concluding episode of his recently published book Birds of Heaven, Travels With Cranes.

DOOLITTLE DOES SOMETHING -- Best Comedy
Gus Guscoria (USA, 2002, 20 min)
Join us for a comical look behind the scenes at Lissa Margett¹s Rocky Mountain Ark Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Jeb, the improbable summer intern, will take us on a tour of this refuge for orphaned or injured wildlife. So get ready to be educated, surprised and enlightened by the important work that goes on in the special place we call The Ark.

{I think "Falling" also played at the Banff last year. Cool music, nice waterfall drops.}

{{Warren Miller's Impact comes to the Merrill on November 7. I will post reminders.}}

{{{Most importantly, TGR's "Soul Purpose" will be at the State November 12. Get your stoke on!}}}