Telluride 2012: Day One – ‘Hyde Park on The Hudson’ and ‘The Masque of the Red Death’

The Telluride Film Festival is the start of my new year, when everything becomes new and exciting again. There is promise in the air and I tell myself to be completely open to any film. It’s easier said than done to put cynicism aside but TFF truly puts on a grand show- conjuring theaters from public spaces and decorating them entrancingly with constellations or remote cinematic references. For 3 and a half days I venture into an celluloid driven trance of swirling thoughts. This is my 7th year in attendance and 6th year working to help build up theaters in the month before the Labor Day weekend festivities. I’ll be coming back for the rest of my life. It’s a cinephilic Shangri-La, where people come to fully immerse themselves in the grandeur of the mountains while taking in what could (and often are) the best movies of the year.

Kicking off the festival at the end of the day was “The Feed” – a catered dinner for staff, stars, filmmakers and patrons that shuts down main street. The free food and drink sets a happy and receptive tone for the festival that lays down the law that you are amongst friends. It encourages everyone to talk, relax and above all to be receptive to one another and the films. Everything is casual and there are no flash-bulbs of the paparazzi. We are all here to talk seriously about film and how it affects us.

CLICK HERE TO EXPAND THE ARTICLE