One of the best film festivals of the year is coming up soon, and this might be the
opportunity you’ve been looking for to head to Colorado for both culture and superb outdoor fun. I’m talking, of
course, about the Telluride Film Festival. For outdoors buffs, the
mountain biking around Telluride is kick ass, as is the hiking and fishing. But you can’t beat it as a killer venue for
watching films and then heading out for a beer at one of the local bars. But it’s a very popular place during the
festival (the town’s population literally triples during the festival), so at this point, you probably have to know
someone to stay with or find a good campsite to pitch a tent.
Here’s a site with a list of some of the camping areas
nearby.
This year’s festival runs from September 2-5. Looks like some of
the passes are sold out, but you can still get your hands on the
Full Festival Pass for $650. That’s not cheap, but I’ll
bet if you just went, you could sneak your way into some of the venues. Not that I’m advocating you do something so,
well, evil.
One of the oddities, but oddly compelling things about the festival is that they never reveal the program until just
before it starts, so it’s usually full of surprises. But every year they show films both big and small. A couple of
films that have premiered at the festival include: Sling Blade, Roger and Me and
Lost in Translation.
If you’ve never been to Telluride before, well, you’ve missed out. It’s one of the most beautiful places around. We
used to go every year to the bluegrass festival there in the heart of summer, and just sitting there with the mountains
and the old mill rising above you, the old Western charm of the place, man, I wish I was going.