About Mountainfilm:
Founded in 1979, Mountainfilm is one of America’s longest-running film festivals. The annual festival is held every Memorial Day weekend in Telluride, CO. Mountainfilm is a dynamic nonprofit organization and festival that celebrates stories of indomitable spirit and aims to inspire audiences through film, art and ideas.
Mountainfilm on Tour in Boulder will feature a collection of culturally rich, adventure-packed and engaging documentary short films that align with Mountainfilm’s mission to use the power of film, art and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world. Mountainfilm presenter, Becca Droz, will guide the audience through the program providing insight on the films, filmmakers and subjects. Becca Droz is a local rock climber, climbing coach and guide. She sees climbing as a tool for developing our relationship with self, other people and nature.
Description of films:
I AM SALMON
Whit Hassett
Connecting humanity with salmon and the sea through the subtle art of poetry and Gyotaku (fish rubbing), Duncan Berry shares his experience as a longtime environmentalist and former captain of a salmon troller. In adopting the perspective of this transcendent fish, the beauty and power of the Oregon coast becomes the canvas through which the evolution of the salmon is illustrated.
AMERICAN SCAR
Daniel Lambroso
When wedding photographer John Kurc decided to spend a few days between assignments exploring the borderlands of southwest Arizona, he had no idea he would spend the next eight months documenting the devastation of the desert ecosystem created by the construction of Trump’s border wall. In the blitz to build the barrier as fast as possible, the administration ignored 47 laws that protect bears, deer, jaguars and javelina roaming the mountains in both the U.S. and Mexico. In addition to being a failed re-election campaign prop and racist monument, the wall also inhibits wildlife migration, putting 70 vulnerable plant and animal species at risk.
FINDING HETCH HETCHY
James Q Martin, Chris Burkard
When the O’Shaughnessy Dam was constructed in 1923, the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park became nearly inaccessible to visitors. It has since become the subject of great environmental controversy. Eager to explore this wild and largely unvisited corner of Yosemite, veteran climbers Timmy O’Neill and Lucho Rivera set out to experience Hetch Hetchy firsthand, scaling its granite walls and advocating for its restoration.
WOOD HOOD
Alex Cullen
DeVaughn is a 15-year-old kid from New York City who loves skateboarding and craves a “quiet place” to escape the chaos of his home, the city, and kids that steal from him. The film follows DeVaughn on a weekend-long group camping trip with Camping to Connect, a BIPOC-led mentorship program that teaches leadership, brotherhood, and inclusion in the outdoors. One leader states, “these kinds of conversations are rare for men that look like us,” and as the film weaves between the city and the woods, a place that is unfamiliar and historically inaccessible to these kids, we witness the joy and growth that is possible when kids have an opportunity to find that “quiet place.”
FLOW (WITH SAM FAVRET)
Maxime Moulin
Skier Sam Favret embarks on an adventure of epic proportions, traversing the slopes of a closed ski resort on a majestic bluebird day. Moulin takes us on a cinematic aerial and symphonic journey as we are enveloped in powerful skiing and the complete unreality of such a serene landscape.
LOON
Jason Whalen, Chris Zucker
When hiking the Appalachian Trail, thru-hikers often choose a trail name that says something about their home or their history. Mike Freed, now in his 80s, chose the name Loon as a symbol of the spirit of the wild, interconnected lakes of his Minnesota homeland. The Appalachian Trail is also where Loon had a revelation about what course of action to take with his 2,000-acre expanse of unfragmented land in the pristine Boundary Waters.
ECO-HACK!
Joshua Izenberg, Brett Marty
Due to increased human activity, desert biologist Tim Shields has been watching the tortoise population of the Mojave desert decline since the 1990s. Rather than continue to sit back and let nature take its course, Shields combats the depressing nature of conservation biology by accessing its antithesis, modern engineering. Through the usage of specialized drones, desert rovers, laser cannons and fake exploding tortoise shells, Shields and his colleagues take what control they can over the ecological levers in play to save the tortoise population. Akin to a cathedral builder laying bricks, Shields may never get to see the true effects of his work, but he does not let that deter him in his endeavors.
THE OCEAN SOLUTION
Darcy Hennessey Turenne
Bren Smith isn’t just redefining ocean farming, he’s literally turning it upside down. After experiencing a string of pitfalls in conventional fishing, Smith decided to reimagine the future of aquatic farming by asking the ocean, “what should our relationship be?” He found his answer and returned to the sea with a new method of restorative ocean farming that produces a sustainable food source, restores the ocean, fights the climate crisis and mimics nature’s penchant for biodiversity.
STORIES OF YOU AND I
John Davies
Starring Academy Award-nominated Jonathan Pryce, Stories of You and I is a series of love letters to the Earth and a plea for environmental justice. What feels like universal memories of moments with the natural world, are director John Davies’ recollections of a lifetime spent in love with nature. Alongside Davies’ true accounts and personal anguish over the environmental crisis are striking images of the wild that emphasize what is at stake.
POWDER SNOW HOKKAIDO
George Knowles
The essence of Hokkaido skiing is as pure and unique as each snowflake that falls on this Japanese Island.
Event image by Melissa Plantz.