Keya's Blog

Click on a small picture to see the larger picture in a slideshow. Article below.

[Show as slideshow]

The Telluride Film Festival was in full bloom this Labor Day Weekend.  It takes place each year in picturesque Telluride, Colorado.  It does not announce its lineup until the day it starts, yet does not disappoint. This year they had a special tribute to actor Viggo Mortensen, their guest director was Alexander Payne, and others present included Nicholas Cage and Werner Herzog.  The festival prides itself on its ability to bring talented directors, screenwriters, actors and producers in a relaxed, yet beautiful atmosphere.  Not only do they bring in big names, but they also bring in an impressive amount of filmmakers to have Q&A sessions after the screening and create common spaces where the audience has an opportunity to interact with some of the screen giants that are in attendance.  There are discussions with actors and filmmakers in the Elks Park and the Court House, while films play on 9 different screens throughout Telluride.  One of the larger theaters, Chuck Jones’ Cinema is accessible from town by an 11 minute gondola ride.

It is impressive to see the transformation that Telluride undergoes in preparation for the Festival.  Schools get transformed into theaters with state of the art sound systems and large screens to play the films.  I wasn’t able to see that many films, but I did take some pictures. As you can see, it is in a beautiful area.

I only went for a day, driving from Montrose in the morning and attended without a pass.  One of the downsides of attending without a pass is that while I and many others waited in line for 3 hours, in hopes of attending the Viggo Mortensen tribute, we did not get in.  As in most film festivals, the ‘really important’ passholders get in first (arriving 10 minutes before), the ‘other’ passholders get in second, then if there is room, nonpassholders can buy tickets.  I only saw the back of Viggo Mortensen’s head as he arrived right before his tribute began. I thought, “Wow. That was Viggo Mortensen.” Then I walked to my car in the rain.

In celebration of the Telluride Film Festival that starts today, here is another film that screened at last year’s festival.  I saw this film at 8:30am in the morning and was thoroughly entertained.  It was a nice addition to the mix of films that I saw; it added some variety to combine with the other heavy, somber, emotionally gripping films, yet was beautifully composed and fully appreciated.





The film is Korean and director Kim Ji-Woon was also in attendance to answer questions after the screening. The film was amazingly shot with two cameras. This is quite stunning, as there were elaborate fight and chase scenes, beautifully and precisely done. He also mentioned that it took something like 6 or 8 months to shoot. A fabulous thing about going to film festivals is the opportunity to meet directors, writers and producers to hear first-hand about the experience within the creative process.

http://telluridefilmfestival.org

Adam Resurrected, 2008, is a movie based off of the novel by Yoram Kaniuk.  It has an unusual, fictitious plot line that may be jarring for some, but after seeing the writer, director and actor at the courthouse discussion at Telluride Film Festival last year, I saw the film and read the book, while appreciating the arduous creative process that a story goes through in order to become a film.

The book took over 8 years to write, then funding needed to come together (millions of dollars) the director, actors and crew needed to be assembled, the set was built just for the purpose of the film and built in the middle of the dessert, then after shooting and editing the film, it needs to get picked up and go through marketing to get its idea out.   It features Jeff Goldblum in a potential Oscar winning performance, however, the film did not get picked up for major distribution.   (That’s a different topic that I won’t get into right now.)

The Telluride Film Festival is coming up this Labor Day Weekend. They do not announce their films until the festival starts, but they usually have a great lineup. I went last year and saw some film gems.

Flame and Citron had sumptuous cinematography, great acting and is based on a true story. It is a haunting WW2 film, from a Scandinavian perspective – a historical perspective I don’t often see, and was very well done. It was reportedly one of the most expensive Danish film ever produced.





Link to U.S. Trailer on YouTube