Telluride Mountainfilm on Tour Coming to Gallup

The Thai Burma Border Health Initiative is excited to bring the highly acclaimed Mountainfilm on Tour to Gallup this March. The Tour offers a selection of culturally rich, adventure-packed and incredibly inspiring short documentary films curated from the Mountainfilm festival held every Memorial Day weekend in Telluride, Colorado. The tour will visit Gallup at the El Morro Theatre on March 10th with films that explore themes connected to their mission: using the power of film, art and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world.

The Thai Burma Border Health Initiative (TBBHI) is a Gallup-based non-profit dedicated to improving the health of Burmese minority groups living along the border with Thailand that was founded by a group of our local physicians. “I’ve been a fan of Mountainfilm for years because the theme of ‘celebrating the indomitable spirit’ definitely applies to the work our staff does in Burma and Thailand,” says Dr. Sam MacBride, Vice President of TBBHI. The organizers are bringing Mountainfilm to Gallup because they feel that same spirit infuses the people and community of Gallup. It is well known that community service workers and volunteers suffer from high rates of burnout. “Doing good work is often its own reward, but we can all use a good dose of inspiration once in a while,” notes Dr. MacBride. They expect these films will bring just that sort of inspiration and joy to folks of all ages.

Mountainfilm began in 1979 and is one of America’s longestrunning film festivals. The festival is best described by one word: inspiring. Interest has grown so much that there are now over 150 showings of The Tour around the world from Anchorage, Alaska to Sydney, Australia and even Singapore. Gallup is one of the smallest communities to host a screening.

The films in the festival cover many topics. There are insane outdoor adventure films, of course, but also some on issues such as water rights, education, immigration, food and social justice. “The topics might sound heavy but, trust me, you’ll be laughing and will walk out in a better mood than when you came in,” Dr. MacBride promises.

The event is more than just a film event though. Local co-sponsors Rosebrough & Fowles Law Firm and Gallup BID have helped to bring shows for students to Del Norte Elementary and Gallup High School on Friday, March 9th. There will also be a non-profit Expo at the El Morro Event Center between the showings on Saturday.

There will be two shows on Saturday, March 10th (before and after ArtsCrawl). The 4:30pm show is a family friendly collection of inspirational and adventure shorts; the 8:30pm is pure adrenaline rush. Tickets will be available at the door at the El Morro Theatre. Each show is $8.00 per adult and $5.00 per child 12 and under. There will be no repeats and you can get a discount for attending both showings.

The complete playlist is available at www.mountainfilm.org/tour/ schedule.