Jon Stewart made the packed audience laugh while he was in Telluride, Colorado this past Labor Day weekend (29 August to 1 September, 2014), while he was introducing his new film, ROSEWATER.
“I am just starting to adjust to the altitude, so I guess that means it is time for me to leave to go home now. What is the best thing for adjusting to high altitude? Water. So, most of you are hydrating and drinking a lot of water? And now I get to watch you squirm in your seats while you watch ROSEWATER, because you won’t be able to use the bathroom for the next two hours.”
The 41st Telluride Film Festival is hard to get to, but worth the trip, and showcases the most anticipated US premieres from first time filmmakers like Jon Stewart to veteran filmmakers including Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Bennett Miller. There were also several classic auteurs honored such as Orson Welles, his incomplete feature, made just three years before Citizen Kane, which was never shown publicly, THE MAGICIAN, a 2014 documentary about Orson Welles himself, Robert Altman, CALIFORNIA SPLIT, 1974, and Francis Ford Coppola, APOCALYPSE NOW, 1979, A CLOSE-UP ON APOCALYPSE NOW and HEARTS OF DARKNESS, 1991. The festival has a low key, small, casual, and approachable style, without any fancy red carpets. At 8,750 feet, this gorgeous mountain town, with a history rich in mining, is set in a valley surrounded by mountain peaks. The sun shines in that Rocky Mountain High sort of way which places a halo around the person you are talking to. The screenings are held at approximately 12 venues all within walking distance in town, and if you ascend in the gondola 1,000 to 2,000 additional feet, to Mountain Village (a ski resort plaza with hotels, outdoors shops, and restaurants), there is another 500 seat theater, named after Chuck Jones. The gondola is very safe, is powered by solar energy, and offers 360 degree panoramic mountain views. It is breathtakingly gorgeous and offers the opportunity to meet others who share the same passion for film as yourself.
There are three airports that service the Telluride area; Telluride, Montrose, and Durango, and if you are unable to fly directly into Telluride (because soon it will be for private flights only), Tellurides.com offers transportation from Montrose or Durango. It may sound far to an East Coaster, but the hour and 20 minute ride from Montrose to Telluride is part of the vacation as you drive by ranches, 14,000 foot peaks, red rocks, and rivers with trout jumping from them. In other words, getting there is half the fun.
I saw 10 films in only four days, most of them brought me on an emotional catharsis.
Films included the following;
FOXCATCHER: the sports drama about two brothers, both Olympic gold medalists in wrestling, and an eccentric wealthy mentor.
WILD: based on the novel by Cheryl Strayed, about a recently divorced woman who reflects back on her past and her relationship with her mother and ex-husband as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail.
THE HOMESMAN: Tommy Lee Jones as a claim jumper, who tries to help three troubled women make it across the prairie safely,
BIRDMAN: a washed up action film actor who tries to rekindle his career in the theater,
RED ARMY: a hockey documentary about the Cold War,
71: an IRA war drama set in Belfast, starring Jack O’Connell from “Starred Up,”
ROSEWATER: based on the true story about a detained journalist (Maziar Bahari) in Iran.
PARADISE LOST: a Godfather-like film about Pablo Escobar starring Benicio del Toro, and Josh Hutcherson, and lastly,
DANCING ARABS: a young boys viewpoint growing up Arabic in Israel.
All the films took me on an emotional rollercoaster, to say the least.
Many films received terrific buzz at the festival. There is already talk of Oscar contention for Foxcatcher, Birdman, and Imitation Game.
Thanks for reading.
One World Cinema