Each Labor Day weekend, the tiny mountain village of Telluride, Colorado triples in size. Swells of passionate film enthusiasts flood the town for four days of total cinematic immersion, embarking on a viewing odyssey, blissfully spending entire days in flickering dark rooms. With only an appreciation of celluloid to guide them, these devotees flock to the show, year after year. Why? Blind faith. We don’t reveal the program until everyone lands in town. Yet the Telluride family trusts that a unique experience will unfold.
The Telluride Film Festival is not just a picture show. It is Tributes to luminaries who've propelled the medium forward; it is candid discussions with a film’s creator or the historian who champions it; it is discovering that the person in line behind you made the film you just enjoyed; it is engaging in lively debate with every manner of film lover in the summer sun of a Colorado afternoon, always minutes away from a new exhibition. Our audiences were the first in the world to laugh with JUNO, to observe THE LIVES OF OTHERS, to visit BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, to learn the secret of THE CRYING GAME, to experience BLUE VELVET, and to witness THE CIVIL WAR. We resurrected the silent epic NAPOLEON, and highlighted the genius of animator Chuck Jones.
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 one weekend immersed in an unabashed carnival of film: viewing, breathing, eating, and talking cinema. This is The SHOW.