PRAYER FLAGS

Prayer flags have adorned the Town of Telluride during the annual Mountainfilm festival since the first-ever Moving Mountains Symposium was dedicated to the Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom in 1994. We acknowledge that prayer flags are a long-standing and intrinsic part of Tibetan culture and continue today to be used to send prayers of peace and well-being to all beings. The meaning of this Tibetan custom aligns with Mountainfilm’s culture and values. Since 1994, prayer flags have been an important part of the festival.

History

Prayer flags originate from the Bön tradition in Tibet, where they are hung to remove obstacles and bring good fortune. The offering of prayer flags is now a common practice across Tibet and the Himalaya. This practice has led to the transmission of Buddhist prayers printed on cloth to the rest of the world.

Meaning

Prayer flags (Tibetan: ) are printed in five colors — blue for the sky, white for air/wind, red for fire, green for water and yellow for earth — and are traditionally woodblock-printed with sacred images and texts. The center of the flag often depicts a lungta (Tibetan: ) meaning wind horse, a symbol of speed and transformation of bad fortune to good, bearing three jewels on its back that represent the Buddha, Buddhist teachings and the Buddhist community.

Tibetan and Himalayan peoples believe that when the wind breezes the flags, it spreads the blessings, good will, peace and compassion embodied in the images and writings across the land.

Synopsis Writers

AB – Anna Brones

SD – Sabrina Davis

JJ – Jennifer Julia

KW – Kellyn Wilson

*Absent initials & HS –Heather Sackett

PALM – Palm Theatre

HC – High Camp

SOH – Sheridan Opera House

NUG – Nugget Theatre

MAS – Masons Theater

BC – Base Camp

See maps, pages 106-107, for locations.

The Art Of Rebellion

Libby Spears

FRI, 2:30 PM, SOH

Fighting against an unforgiving healthcare system while she battles the symptoms of progressive multiple sclerosis, muralist Lydia Emily ties paintbrushes to her failing hands to create large-scale works of creative resistance. Over time, the portrait of Emily that emerges is one of a tough, tender, indomitable force of nature, plagued by hospital bills, buoyed by medication and never silenced. Even as her disease progresses, she persists, declaring, “I dare you to make this my last year. I love my life — try and take it from me.” —SD (USA, 2022, 78 min.)

Colorado Premiere

MountainfilM CoMMitMent

Grant 2016

Bad Press

Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler

FRI, 8:45 PM, MAS SUN, 9 AM, SOH

In Person: Filmmakers and

Film Subject

Freedom of the press, though protected in the United States Constitution, is not guaranteed in most Native American tribes; as sovereign nations, tribes determine their own laws and constitutions. Of the 574 federally-recognized tribes, only five have passed laws protecting free press. One of those five is the Muscogee Nation. When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring their free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian country. —SD (USA, 2023, 98 min.)

Colorado Premiere

Cowboy Poets

Mike Day

SAT, 2:45 PM, MAS

SUN, 7 PM, PALM

In Person: Filmmaker

Cowboy Poets is an unlikely Western set in the world of cowboy poetry gatherings. Every year since 1985, they’ve gathered to share their heartfelt cowboy poetry in Elko, Nevada. At once a celebration of the creative process, our need to create, to gather, to share, Cowboy Poets reveals a modern West wrangling with change and environmental threats. This film follows some of these poets as they reckon with the West’s founding myths, the fossil fuel economy and natural disasters that threaten their way of life, and their relationship to the land as they spin these struggles into moving, lyrical verse. (UK, 2023, 92 min.)

Colorado Premiere

Deep Rising

Matthieu Rytz

FRI, 5:30 PM, HC

MON, 10:30 AM, SOH

Produced and narrated by Hollywood’s Aquaman

Jason Momoa, Deep Rising illuminates the vital relationship between the deep ocean and sustaining life on Earth. Closely paralleled with the development of seabed mining startup The Metals Company, the film follows the organization in its early stages as it pursues funding, public favor and permission from the International Seabed Authority to mine wide swaths of the Pacific Ocean floor. The deep intonation of Momoa’s narration pulls us into the question of the hour: is opening up our earth’s last untouchable wilderness, the deep ocean, really the solution to our supply crisis, or is it yet another misplaced step on humanity’s unstoppable march toward self-destruction? —SD (USA, 2022, 93 min.)

Colorado Premiere

Full Circle

Josh Berman

FRI, 5:30 PM, PALM SAT, 1 PM, PALM

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subject

Parallel in their injuries, a current Trevor Kennison and a legendary Barry Corbet have their narratives woven together through reinventing themselves after trauma. Vulnerable in its close inspection and inspiring in its development and delivery, Full Circle follows both Kennison and Corbet as they transform the tragedy of spinal cord injury into an unbelievable opportunity, redefining what’s possible as they set realistic goals in their rehabilitation. —SD

(USA, 2023, 105 min.)

Colorado Premiere

Going Varsity In Mariachi

Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn

SAT, 6 PM, NUG

SUN, NOON, MAS

In Person: Filmmakers

In the borderlands of southern Texas, a competitive world of music sets the stage for exploring identity, cultural roots and pressing social issues: mariachi. Situated in the Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg North High School’s acclaimed mariachi band faces fierce competition and must fight to stay in the top echelon. Empowered by the sounds of trumpets, thick guitarrón strings and violins as their backdrop, the teenage captains and their coach Abel Acuña work on turning a shoestring budget and a diverse crew of inexperienced musicians into fierce competitors. (USA, 2023, 104 min.)

Colorado Premiere

The Grab

Gabriela Cowperthwaite

SAT, 10 AM, HC

SUN, 12:15 PM, NUG

In Person: Film Subject

Quietly and seemingly out of sight, governments, private investors and mercenaries are seizing food and water resources at the expense of entire populations. These groups are establishing themselves as the new OPEC, where the future world powers will be those who control not oil, but food. And it’s all beginning to bubble to the surface in real-time. Global food prices have hit an all-time high, threatening chaos and violence. Meanwhile, Russia is using food as a weapon against the Ukrainians and as a geopolitical tool to control the world. The Grab is a global thriller that takes you around the globe from Arizona to Zambia, to reveal one of the world’s biggest and least-known threats.

—JJ

(USA, 2022, 104 min.)

Greener Pastures

Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian

SAT, 12:15 PM, NUG

SUN, 5:30 PM MAS

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subjects

Greener Pastures captures the day-to-day lives of four small, multigenerational family farms over the course of three years. Through an intimate, observational lens we examine the various farm stressors, policies and politics farmers must maneuver to survive, connecting the dots between mental health, industrialization, food production and climate change. It is a story of perseverance, patience and determination that tackles nothing less than the future of farming in America.

(USA, 2023, 85 min.)

Colorado Premiere

The Herricanes

Olivia Kuan

SAT, 3 PM, NUG

SUN, 10 AM, HC

In Person: Filmmaker

The Houston Herricanes were a part of the first women’s full-tackle football league in the 1970s. Their underdog story is one of commitment, courage, strength and community. Despite adversity and hardship, they fielded a team that was more than the sum of its players purely for the love of the game. What they started was a movement that is still in motion today. Although the story of the Herricanes may be littleknown, these tough women were trailblazers, helping to usher in an era of equality for women’s sports with the passing of Title IX in 1972.

—HS

(USA, 2023, 87 min.)

Colorado Premiere

Impossible Town

Meg Griffiths, Scott Faris

SAT, 5:30 PM, MAS

SUN, 8 PM, SOH

In Person: Filmmakers

In the mid-1980s in rural southern West Virginia, Dr. Hassan Amjad is alarmed at the abnormal rates of cancer in his patients. He becomes their fiercest advocate, raising awareness about the persistent risk to human health caused by carcinogenic PCBs left from the mining industry. Decades later, this responsibility lands on his daughter, Dr. Ayne Amjad. Thrust to the helm of this decades-long struggle, and haunted by her late father’s mandate to help others at all costs, Ayne is caught between her dream of raising a family and an audacious but allconsuming plan to relocate the town and bring closure to her father’s work. This story of personal ambitions in conflict with deep familial obligations is set against the backdrop of loss, grief and environmental injustice in rural Appalachia. —AB (USA, 2023, 87 min.)

World Premiere

MountainfilM CoMMitMent

Grant 2022

Mama Bears

Daresha Kyi

SAT, 9:30 AM, NUG

What does it take to stand up for your child? Across America, there are over 32,000 mothers, mostly from conservative, Christian backgrounds, who fully accept and battle for the rights of LGBTQ+ children. They are called “mama bears,” because while their love is warm and fuzzy, they fight ferociously to make the world kinder and safer for the entire queer community. Many have grown up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, but these mama bears are willing to risk losing friends, family and faith communities to keep their offspring safe — even if it challenges their belief systems and rips their worlds apart. —AB

(USA, 2022, 90 min.)

THE NEW AMERICANS: GAMING A REVOLUTION

Ondi Timoner

SAT, 1 PM, HC

SUN, 8:15 PM, MAS

In Person: Filmmakers

Writer and director Ondi Timoner’s documentary is a kaleidoscopic, memedriven journey into a chasm where finance, media and extremism meet. The film drops us into a current reality for many millennials, offering a look at the explosive and irreversible ramifications of our digital future. Timoner’s film is an eye-opening portrait of the new generation of investors, those who play the stock market like a video game and think they’re fighting the power. It’s a modernday gold rush, where retail traders are driven by the idea that the democratization of stock trading is possible. Hiding behind avatars, accepting a substitute of fantasy for reality, these new Americans are indeed gaming a revolution. —SD (USA, 2023, 104 min.)

Colorado Premiere

NO LEGS. ALL HEART.

Pablo Durana

FRI, 8:30 PM, PALM

SUN, 10 AM, PALM

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subject

While studying abroad in Prague, André Kajlich suffered a terrible accident, leaving him with both legs amputated. After years of addiction, struggle and coming to terms with this life-changing accident, Kajlich aims to be the first double amputee to complete the Race Across America. This grueling 12-day, 3,082-mile bike race is known for spitting out 50% of able-bodied racers. But Kajlich is up for the challenge. In No Legs. All Heart, we find a story about the true test of the human spirit, overcoming addiction and the pain we endure to carve our own path in life. As Kajlich says, “we are disabled in things we can’t do… but there is no shortage of things that any of us can do.” —AB

(USA, 2023, 89 min.)

Colorado Premiere

Path Of The Panther

Eric Bendick

SAT, 8:45 PM, NUG

SUN, 2:45 PM, MAS

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subject

Drawn in by the haunting specter of the Florida panther, National Geographic photographer Jr. Carlton Ward and a coalition of biologists, ranchers, conservationists and Indigenous peoples find themselves on the front lines of an accelerating battle between forces of renewal and destruction that have pushed the Everglades to the brink of ecological collapse. As one of the most elusive and endangered wild cats in the world, the plight of the panther inspired a visionary idea: a wildlife corridor or “wild path” that could one day stretch into every corner of North America. What began as a moonshot photo and film mission, Path of the Panther evolved into a groundbreaking collaboration between the National Geographic Society and other partners that inspired the passage of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, the first legislation of its kind and a blueprint for addressing habitat fragmentation and species extinction across the globe. —JJ

(USA, 2022, 89 min.)

Patrol

Brad Allgood, Camilio de Castro Belli

FRI, 5:45 PM, SOH

SUN, 3 PM, NUG

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subject

The Indio-Maíz Biological Reserve on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua is sacred ground to the Rama and Afro-descendant Kriol people who have called it home for generations. As the global demand for beef rises, this rich, biodiverse environment is under serious threat from illegal cattle ranchers who steal acreage and raze large swaths of rainforest to graze their herds. At the present rate of decimation, the reserve could be wiped out in less than five years. In an attempt to protect their ancestral lands and preserve one of the last remaining rainforests in Central America, Indigenous rangers join forces with an American conservationist and undercover journalists to expose the dark world of conflict beef. —JJ

(USA, 2022, 82 min.)

World Premiere

MountainfilM CoMMitMent Grant 2022

The Road Of Excess

Jamie Jones

WARNING: This film includes mature and graphic content.

SAT, 8:30 PM, BC

SUN, 8:45 PM, NUG

In Person: Filmmakers

The Road of Excess is a film about toxic masculinity, mental health, addiction, fame and what happens when it’s gone. The film explores these pitfalls of notoriety and celebrity through the eyes of Matt Pritchard, the star of MTV’s UK “Jackass” clone; “Dirty Sanchez,” as he attempts to row the Atlantic Ocean. In many ways, the row is a metaphor for Pritchard’s life of excess. Everything he does, he does to the extreme. He doesn’t know any other way. This reality manifests itself on film as a raw, exposed human mind with no filters. It’s a harrowing journey both on the ocean and into Pritchard’s inner world. The Road of Excess explores what an immense physical and emotional challenge can teach us about finding peace and purpose.

(UK, 2023, 100 min.)

North American Premiere

Sophia

Crystal Moselle, Jon Kasbe

FRI, 8:45 PM, SOH

SAT, 4 PM, PALM

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subjects

For David, Sophia is much more than a machine, she’s an empathetic robot offering deep connection and a glimpse at what the shared future between AI and humans might look like. As he works tirelessly in his lab, shaping Sophia’s lifelike face and building her intelligence, pressures from the outside world seep in. When his mother’s health takes a turn for the worse and investors begin to question his vision, David’s unwavering belief in Sophia is all that stands between himself and failure. With time running out and resources dwindling, will David and Sophia find their place in the world? —JJ

(USA, 2022, 89 min.)

Colorado Premiere

TREES, AND OTHER ENTANGLEMENTS

Irene Taylor

SAT, 5:15 PM, SOH

SUN, 4 PM, PALM

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subjects

The entangled lives of people and trees take root and grow into a contemporary tale of time: our connection to the natural world and to one another. Trees tell the truth. They are vulnerable. They cannot escape. In this film, we meet a young boy stolen and hidden amongst trees, an artist refining American bonsai, a photographer artfully observing trees, a mother fighting to protect the forests in her backyard, family trees and uprooted trees, and a man who steadfastly plants them. The layers reveal the tender heartwood of the humans and trees alike, both honest and sensitive. These stories unfold as an arboreal and deeply human thriller. —SD (USA, 2023, 114 min.)

World Premiere

We Are Tenacious

Ash Kreis

FRI, 5:30 PM, NUG

SUN, 9:15 AM, MAS

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subjects

Penny Logue is many things: A transgender alpaca rancher. An anarchist. A modern pioneer. The founder of the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch — a safe haven for queer and transgender people in rural Colorado. She’s also a hero in the queer community. Tucked away in the central Rocky Mountains at the 40acre ranch, Logue and her dedicated family of queer ranchers find themselves battling a variety of threats: fierce weather, impossible finances, far-right militia and their own inner struggles as they pursue liberation. Documenting the ranchers’ journey from their idyllic beginnings to their fight to exist when confronted by harassment and local militia groups, We Are Tenacious is a classic American story of true perseverance. —AB (USA, 2023, 82 min.)

North American Premiere

Wild Life

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

SAT, 7 PM, PALM

SUN, 7 PM, HC

In Person: Filmmakers and Film Subjects

From Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, Wild Life follows conservationist Kris Tompkins on an epic, decades-spanning love story as wild as the landscapes she dedicated her life to protecting. After falling in love in mid-life, Kris and the outdoorsman and entrepreneur Doug Tompkins left behind the world of the massively successful outdoor brands they’d helped pioneer — Patagonia, The North Face, and Esprit — and turned their attention to a visionary effort to create national parks throughout Chile and Argentina. Wild Life chronicles the highs and lows of their journey to effect the largest private land donation in history.

(USA, 2023, 93 min.)

Wild Waters

David Arnaud

FRI, 8:30 PM, BC

SUN, 4 PM, HC

In Person: Filmmaker

Adventurer, competitor, friend, pioneer and badass human are all words used to describe French kayaker Nouria Newman. In Wild Waters, we follow Newman’s journey as she prepares to become the first female to run a 100 ft (30 m) waterfall, watching her grow from a young, keen Olympic hopeful to one of the greatest kayakers of all time. But running some of the world’s gnarliest whitewater isn’t Newman’s biggest life challenge. Realizing that the expectations placed on her as both an athlete and as a woman weigh heavily on her decisions and ambitions, she pushes back to make her own path. In her refusal to conform to the expectations of others, Newman utilizes her passion for kayaking to uncover her true, most authentic self. —JJ

(France, 2022, 85 min.)