Two of the films featured at this weekend’s Mountainfilm in Telluride festival are the work of local residents: “Eastern Rises” by Felt Soul Media and “Bag It” by Reel Thing Productions. You can read about Suzan Beraza (Reel Thing executive director), who is profiled in this summer’s magazine, and Felt Soul Media’s Ben Knight is a contributing photographer to Telluride Magazine (cover shot, winter 09-10).
“Eastern Rises” is Felt Soul Media’s fourth beautiful film about fishing and the environment, and follows a group of intrepid fishing fanatics to the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Europe. Felt Soul Media also produced “The Hatch,” “Running Down the Man,” and “Red Gold.” Ben Knight and Travis Rummel share their eye for beauty and their passion for the sport of fishing to help protect the wild places that inspire them.
“Bag It” is Beraza’s directorial debut on a feature-length film, and was written by local author Michelle Curry Wright and hosted by local actor/comedian Jeb Berrier. Like the other Reel Thing productions, “Bag It” has an environmental message that will touch audiences and, hopefully, make better and more conscious consumers out of the people who watch the movie. I know it has made a difference in my everyday life: I no longer take plastic bags from the grocery store and I take a much harder look at the things I purchase and what materials contain them.
We hope that audiences this weekend will find these films as inspiring as we do, and will be intrigued as we are with the people who live here and who make Telluride special.