This year’s Telluride Mountain Film Festival features the usual stunning images of exotic destinations with a local twist: one of the 14 films is shot almost entirely in Haines.
The short segment from Teton Gravity Research’s “Almost Ablaze” focuses on 24-year-old female skier Angel Collinson, who competed in the Haines leg of the Freeride World Tour last year.
“The film is all in Haines,” said Jessica Edwards, executive director of the Southeast Alaska State Fair, which is sponsoring the festival along with Takshanuk Watershed Council. “She is getting interviewed in front of the dock at Port Chilkoot, she’s walking out of the Fort Seward Lodge.”
The Mountain Film Festival returns to Harriett Hall on Thursday, March 3. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the films begin at 6 p.m.
Edwards said two of the films will appeal to animal lovers: “Sun Dog,” a wordless piece about enjoying the outdoors with your dog, and “Denali,” about how a dog and its owner support one another through difficult life experiences.
“It’s a bit of a tear-jerker. I have to say I cried. At the same time it’s uplifting. It gets to the real heart of the connection between people and dogs,” Edwards said.
“Afterglow” is primarily a “visual treat,” Edwards said, and features skiers donning colored light suits and taking to the slopes in Girdwood at night.
Some of the films focus primarily on the awe-inspiring or impressive nature of the sports they depict, while others delve into the social and cultural facets of an activity. “The Important Places,” for example, revolves around a young man trying to come to terms with his father’s mortality during a joint rafting trip down the Grand Canyon.
Tickets are $12 in advance at the Babbling Book, Takshanuk Watershed Council office or Southeast Alaska State Fair office, or $15 at the door.