November 2007

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David Holbrooke Named Festival Director

November 27, 2007 in Behind the Scenes, Briefs, Emily by Emily | No comments

November 27, 2007

Yesterday, the official word went out to the general public: Mountainfilm has hired David Holbrooke as the new festival director. Not wasting any time, David is already in the office and cranking hard for next year’s festival. If you’re on our emailing list, this news is already old news (that’s soooo yesterday). If not, check out this link for more details, and go here to get added to our online community.

David Holbrooke. And a seal.

Exactly six months from today, the 30th Mountainfilm festival will be over. In the meantime, the staff is extremely excited to welcome David to our humble main street office. (Unfortunately, the desk we picked out for him was a wee bit small…his knees are knocking the middle drawer. We’re told this isn’t our fault; it’s a common problem for 6 feet 6 inches tall David. Drew, our new tour staff member, doesn’t have the same problem.)

Posted by Emily Long

The Conversation

November 27, 2007 in Behind the Scenes, Briefs, Emily by Emily | No comments

November 27, 2007

Regular MF Blog readers may have noticed some recent updates to the web site. Today, we are officially launching our new title: The Conversation. MF will always be our favorite acronym for the festival, but after a year of on-again off-again postings we are ready to take this blog to a new level.

We’ve already started by folding the Mountainfilm on Tour blog “On the Road” in with this one, and in the coming months we’ll be inviting guest bloggers to be a part of the conversation by posting updates and stories from all corners of the world. We expect the first guest blog post shortly after the new year. We’d also like to invite you, the readers, to join in the conversation by posting comments (naughty or nice, we welcome them alike) whenever you feel moved.

Posted by Emily Long

The Greater World

November 27, 2007 in Behind the Scenes, Briefs, Emily, On Tour, Road Shows by Emily | 2 comments

November 27, 2007

Signature Mountainfilm prayer flags in WaterColor, Florida. Photo by Ben Knight

We recently made the pages (screen?) of Felt Soul Media’s blog, The Wire:

If anyone was curious as to why the three of us were in Florida: The Telluride Mountainfilm Festival has a tour show In WaterColor, a small ritzy beach community on Florida’s panhandle. They were kind enough to invite us for the two-day event so we could introduce Running Down the Man and show the Red Gold trailer….read more.

A quick google of “Mountainfilm” and “David Holbrooke” revealed an article David wrote for the Huffington Post in April, 2007. He describes the effect of a surprising question during the Q&A for his film Shiva’s Dance Floor at Mountainfilm several years ago:

The conversation that followed was exhilarating for everyone in the room. Filmmakers work very hard to get every single moment right but with his diatribe, the hostile stage manager had quickly unraveled our finished product. There was nothing in the ether; it was all right there in that room that day, making the whole film experience, richer and deeper….read more.

Another kindred spirit—The Poverty Jet Set—released some kind words into the blogosphere about us:

One of my favorite film festivals in the world is Mountainfilm…read more.

We’re tickled pink. Thanks, Mark.

Posted by Emily Long

2008 Shaping Up

November 26, 2007 in Justin, On Tour by admin | No comments

We’re just finishing up the first leg of our 2007/2008 tour schedule and I couldn’t be more excited. In 2007 we completed some fantastic new shows and improved some of our existing shows as well. Our audiences are growing all the time and the amount of money we help raise for non-profits is going up as well. Since June we’ve been from Colorado to Norway & Canada to Chile and all points in between. While we have about 5 presenters that hit the road each year, I try to get out when I can to meet new people and see new places – this is, after all, one of the perks of being the Director of the Tour.

Keep an eye on the blog for location specific entries from the road. My hope is to share the trials, tribulations and joys of the road.
2008 is shaping up to be one of our biggest years on tour yet. After humble beginnings, Mountainfilm on Tour will make approximately 120 stops on 5 continents in 2007/2008! This is a huge accomplishment for us this year since we’ve been hovering around 95 shows for the past 3 years.

Check for the tour making these stops in January!

Breckenridge, CO (Jan 7)
Anchorage, AK (Jan 11 – 13)
Homer, AK (Jan 15 & 17)
Girdwood, AK (Jan TBD)
Haines, AK (Jan TBD)
Wenatchee, WA (Jan 15)
New York, NY ( Jan 16)
Santa Fe, NM (Jan 17)
Winona, MN (Jan 24 – 27)
Los Angeles, CA (Jan 24 – 26)
Portland, OR (Jan 31)
Sewell, NJ (Jan 31)

Visit http://www.mountainfilm.org/tour/schedule for more information
Cheers,

Justin

If I Told You, I’d Have to Kill You

November 20, 2007 in Behind the Scenes, Emily, On Tour by Emily | 2 comments

November 20, 2007

There’s news, I just can’t tell you right now.

The programming department has gone underground, trying to search out the best content—films, presenters, artists, characters—for our 30th festival. Even information on who runs the programming department—our new festival director—isn’t public knowledge yet. (I’ll give you a hint: he’s a filmmaker from New York who has had several films featured at Mountainfilm in the past.) You won’t have to wait long for the news to come out, don’t worry.

We do have some news I can tell you. In addition to the new festival director, we also have a new year-round staff member on the tour. Drew Ludwig started yesterday as the assistant director, doubling the manpower in that department. Drew has worked for the festival for quite a few years, holding positions such as volunteer coordinator and most recently as a presenter for the tour.