Telluride Film Festival

Telluride Jazz Celebration: Aug 3-5

This special weekend is going to be a musical experience full of character and all around good vibes. It celebrates that great American music that is fueled by soul and feeling  and innovation. Come join us at the awe inspiring Telluride Town Park for three days of Jazz, Funk, and everything in between! Call and book now and get a special 15% discount on lodging!

Funky Meters - Fiyo At The Fillmore by Funky Meters

Telluride Mushroom Festival: Aug 16-19

A gathering of experts, enthusiasts, and amateurs alike celebrating all things fungal! This free festival is a chance to share and learn about the little sprouts that you find in the forest. Come check it out for yourself, you are bound to learn something new! Call now for a 15% discount on lodging!

USA Pro Cycle Challenge:

Telluride is more than excited to host stage one of the USA Pro Cycle Challenge this year! The second annual race is easily becoming the county’s biggest and most challenging bike race, with 135 world class athletes completing 680 miles of grueling mountain terrain. Come watch them roll through the town of Telluride! Inquire now to book lodging.

Sponsored by KOTO fm Radio, this is Telluride’s newest summer festival. Two days of music will take place in Telluride Town Park. Some of the featured artists included Ben Harper, The Wood Brothers, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, North Mississippi Allstars, The Lumineers, and more! Call (877) 358 7122 for booking.

Telluride is proud to host this fantastic festival year after year, beginning back in 1973 with some of the industry’s legends. Come out and celebrate cinema in Telluride this year with the best filmmakers, actors, directors, and producers. The films are kept a secret until the festival comes to town, but it is not uncommon that you will wind up seeing award winning shows.

Now that the 2011 Telluride Film Festival has concluded – this year’s eclectic mix of films continues to prove why the Telluride Film Festival is different from so many other film festivals.

Having George Clooney and Tilda Swinton in attendance as silver medallion tributes didn’t hurt the celebrity “wattage”.  However, not having to attend red carpet events, being able to mix with the locals and attendees without worrying about “who they were wearing” and basically enjoying the low key vibe that is Telluride was refreshing.  Add Glenn Close and Jennifer Garner to the list of celebrities also in town and it made for another enthusiastic event.

Telluride Film Festival has always been and remains – simply about the love of films.  With that as a narrative, Telluride has always selected films that may not necessarily appeal to those people looking for the next box office blockbuster.  The goal being – find those films that embody the core essence of what films are meant to do - provoke, entertain, disturb, amuse, etc.  Some of the films premiered in Telluride have been commercial successes and probably many more have not been – but those less commercial films are no less embraced and enjoyed by the festival crowd.  In fact, standing in line listening to what people enjoyed most are often small, mindful films that you need to seek out afterwards from art house rental companies or art house movie theaters. 

This year’s menu of films was no exception.  Some examples include “The Descendants”, starring George Clooney and directed by Alexander Payne - a film more inclined to be commercially successful.  Then there’s “The Artist” – a silent film shot in black and white…beautifully acted and highly entertaining but certainly a commercial crap shoot given it’s format.  Glenn Close delivered another brilliant performance in “Albert Nobbs” – a period piece both comic and heartbreaking but again, how will it do commercially?  Those films are a small slice of what was offered this year – many more films  delivering the kind of experience the Telluride Film Festival devotees have come to respect and rely on…all the while, comfortably in their jeans!       

Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer vacation season. For some, it’s the last time to visit the beach for the year, or the last time to wear that favorite white, linen shirt hanging in the closet, or maybe it’s the last time you enjoy a nice picnic or barbecue with friends and family. Here in Telluride, Labor Day weekend is celebrated as a beginning. A commencement to a heated race of reviews, critiques, festivals and silver screen gazing… all hoping for as many miniature golden statues as possible five months later at the Academy Awards. “We take great pains to remain not a competition, but a celebration of the best in film – past, present and future – from all around the world. This is the one weekend immersed in an unabashed carnival of film: viewing, breathing, eating, and talking cinema. This is The SHOW”.

“…like Cannes died and went to heaven…” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

So, what makes Telluride Film Festival (TFF) unique and different than all the others – Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and more? First and most importantly, TFF is WAY more laid back. You won’t find any red carpets, TMZ, paparazzi, flashing cameras, stretch Hummer’s, champagne and other Hollywood-esk moments (thank God)... all the glamour and glitz is left behind when you arrive in our box canyon. You might even randomly sit beside Sean Penn at the Sheridan Bar having a beer (true story) or even get behind Laura Linney at the Clark’s Market checkout line (she’s pretty much a local) or stroll by Colin Firth on Main Street and exchange hello’s (another true story). Instead of black-tie, invite only events… TFF offers free Q&A’s in Elks Park where you can bring a blanket, lunch and enjoy the views of the surrounding 13,000 foot peaks. Relaxed, unhurried, casual, free from stress is something the film industry doesn’t embrace (for many reasons)… and that’s what makes Telluride so much more memorable.

“The town’s theatres are filled with the famous, the infamous, and the anonymous, seated side by side in a joyful camaraderie of discovery” – Steven G. Kellman, San Antonio Light

Second, TFF is about one thing - the love of film. A TRUE film festival where the films, not celebrities, are celebrated. The entire program is even a secret all the way up until hours before the festival starts. TFF calls their films “sneak peaks” and not “premieres” - the emphasis is on the movies and their creative teams, not on the announcement. Little things like this make the Labor Day Festival so special here in Telluride. With this charm and laidback attitude, it’s no wonder TFF has “sneak peaked” The King’s Speech, Black Swan, Slumdog Millionaire, The Lives of Others, Juno, Brokeback Mountain and many, many more fantastic films in recent years. Maybe it’s something in the air? Whatever it is… we look forward to another amazing and laidback Labor Day weekend here in Telluride. Welcome to The SHOW!

“The Telluride Festival is for those who have a passion for the cinema, those who live for the cinema, those who live for the cinema, rather than those who live on the cinema” – Bertrand Tavernier

This is your chance to attend this year's SHOW in beautiful Telluride at the 38th annual Labor Day Weekend event, September 2nd-5th. Two lucky winners will win 5 single movie passes to the Telluride Film Festival.                                ENTER HERE TO WIN TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL TICKETS! http://bit.ly/pfTMid