The Telluride Mountain Film Festival returns to Harriett Hall at 6:30 p.m. Friday with 11 films showcasing the quirky, extreme and inspirational ways people and the environment intersect.
The festival is presented by the Southeast Alaska State Fair and the Takshanuk Watershed Council.
Fair director Jessica Edwards said the films aren’t just about extreme sports in cool places. “If we had to typify this particular festival, it would be definitely your adventure films, but maybe with a little quirky twist. Not just the same old glorification of the most beautiful conditions and the most pristine places,” she said.
For example, in “A Beautiful Waste,” Steve Duncan journeys below New York City to wander the Big Apple’s sewers. “Marshland Dreams” tells the story of the Mesopotamian Marshes in the Middle East, where Saddam Hussein systematically drained the wetlands so they couldn’t shelter rebel forces.
The festival’s feature-length film, “Record Breaker,” follows Ashrita Furman, the greatest record breaker of all time. Furman holds nearly 400 world records in underwater bicycling, upside-down juggling and other bizarre pseudo-sports.
Other films to be screened Friday include “14.C,” about rock climbing; “Dubai: A Skier’s Journey,” about indoor skiing in a luxury shopping mall; “Desert Ice,” about ice climbing in Zion National Park; “Likebomb Skiing,” about skiing in hilariously bad snow conditions; “Wedge,” about winter skiing in California; “North Slope, Alaska,” about moving oil through hundreds of miles of pipeline; “Supermom,” about a women’s freestyle skiing champ who trades in the professional life to have a family; and “Light Goes On,” created by and for kids, addressing themes of adventure, environment and culture.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Pizza, salad, dessert, beer and wine will be for sale. Tickets are $12 in advance at the Babbling Book or fair office.