This short film is about champion mountain biker Dave Wiens as he recently took on a late entry by Lance Armstrong into the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race.

Just returned from another fantastic festival. I met several great people, as usual, as this festival is one of the best ones for meeting filmmakers. Though I shook his hand, I didn’t actually get to speak with Jeff Goldblum other than the few seconds before taking this gratuitous photo for my blog. Yeah, I’m a fan boy. I admit it.

One of my favorite conversations was the 45-minute long chat I had in front of the coffee shop on Sunday morning with Godfrey Reggio, the director of one of my favorite films of all time, Koyaanisquatsi. I had the chance to really pick his brain about his films, his hometown New Orleans, the direction of digital media and the implications of the ubiquity of digital cameras on privacy and society. Fun!

I’m happy that I finally got to meet Karina Longworth, the blogger for Spout.com, after being Internet buddies for a couple years. And though usually a chore, my trips into and out of town were both great. On the way in, I met and had a fantastic conversation with Lee Kline of the Criterion Collection, who subsequently invited me to project video at their cinema at All Tomorrow’s Party (more on that later). And then, on my way out of town I spoke with the talented animator Matthew Talbot-Kelly about blogging, animation, business and family. Great stuff. If you have the chance, I also highly recommend his short, Blind Man’s Eye.

You might notice that I haven’t yet written about the films I saw. Honestly, there weren’t any that totally blew me away. Maybe I’m getting jaded. Or media-saturated. Or filmed-out. Not sure. But in any case, my favorite feature-length films I caught were:

• Waltz with Bashir – an animated documentary about a soldier trying to piece together traumatic events during his experience in war
• Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh’s humorous look at a girl who thinks the can save everyone around her through sheer will and humor
• O’Horten – a quiet but cute film about a Norwegian train conductor who doesn’t know what to do with himself after retiring
• Pirosmani – a 1969 film I was lucky enough to project about one of the most famous painters from the Republic of Georgia. It only ran once because the print didn’t come until the last possible minute and wasn’t included in the program. Unfortunately, not many people came to the screening.

Lastly, allow me to speak about one of the best things that happened during the festival: gondola karaoke. Whilst riding a fully loaded gondola with my friends up to the end-of-fest staff party at the Chuck Jones theater in Mountain Village, Beth says, “Say, what are your favorite songs? Let’s sing them!” which we proceeded to do with reckless, tipsy abandon at top ear-splitting volume. I think there were moments of Queen to Elvis Costello to Madonna. And then we did it again on the way down. Even drunker. Oh yeah.

I had the great pleasure of heading to the mountains again this holiday weekend for a heaping serving of films that celebrate the ‘indomitable spirit‘ in adventure, culture, sports and environment. MountainFilm was celebrating it’s 30th year and it was my seventh. As always, it was excellent to spend time in Telluride, my old stomping grounds. Audrey got her first taste of the high and mighty San Juan Mountains, and I’m sure it won’t be her last. We had a great time.

I took a plethora of photos on the trip. You can see the whole set on Flickr here. Here are a few choice picks:

(my gorgeous wife)

(my sister-in-law Becca, her husband Brian and Audrey on top of the Jud Weibe Trail, ~10,000ft elevation)

(me, Justyn and Greg – my co-projectionists at The Palm Theater)

Also, I should mention that the good people at National Geographic Adventure were major sponsors of the event and I would be bereft if I didn’t send my buddies at their sister blog Intelligent Travel a proper shout-out! They’re frequent commenters on The Poverty Jet Set, and I love ‘em for it. You guys rule, keep up the awesome work! And thanks for supporting such a fantastic festival.