Held annually in Telluride CO, Mountainfilm is a documentary film festival that showcases nonfiction stories about environmental, cultural, climbing, political and social justice issues that matter. Mountainfilm on Tour showcases a curated selection of powerful films from the festival. This special screening is presented in partnership with the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association.

NOTE: Doors open at 5 pm with cash bar.

Safe Haven | Directed by Tim Kressin
Inner-city Memphis is not the likeliest setting for an enormous rock climbing gym. But since it opened in March 2018, Memphis Rox, the nation’s only nonprofit climbing gym — open to all, regardless of ability to pay — has proven that the challenges of technical climbing have strong appeal, and can provide benefits well beyond the traditional outdoor-recreation community. (USA, 2018, 8 min.)

Cracking Ice Ceilings | Directed by Mariano Carranza
The cholita climbers of Bolivia have been subverting the culture of machismo since 2015 by climbing mountains. Not content to stay in their traditional roles as high-mountain cooks, these 11 escaladoras wanted to see for themselves what it felt like to go to the top. Pairing the traditional cholita garb of colorful skirts, shawls, bowler hats and brooches with ice axes and crampons, these women climb for the same reason many others do: that feeling of freedom that comes with standing on the summit. (USA, 2017, 3 min)

Brotherhood of Skiing | Directed by Tyler Wilkinson-Ray, Colin Arisman
The Brotherhood of Skiers has been bringing camaraderie and dance parties to the slopes since 1973. The annual summits, which unite African-American ski clubs across the country, are fundraisers for youth programs to pass the love of skiing down to the next generation. First born of necessity — safety in numbers in the aftermath of the civil rights movement — four decades later, the Brotherhood of Skiers is still creating a safe space and upending stereotypes. (USA, 2018, 10 min.)

Sweetheart Dancers | Directed by Ben-Alex Dupris
Indigenous dancers Sean and Adrian challenge the rulebook of San Manuel’s Native American Sweetheart Special as they attempt to compete in the annual couple’s competition. Dancing not only against the other dancers, but against the drums of oppression and closed-mindedness, this Two-Spirit couple is determined to rewrite the rules of “one man, one woman” with their resplendent charisma, character and resilience. (USA, 2019, 13 min.)

The Litas | Directed by William DeSena
Growing up gay and black in Los Angeles in the 1960s, Gevin Fax felt alone. Then, at age 12, she discovered dirt-biking. “The boys grew out of it, but she never did,” her father reminisces in this short about the Litas, a 5,000-strong global women’s motorcycle collective founded in 2015. For Gevin, finding the Litas was a revelation. “I’m truly present when I’m alone on that bike and I can just be,” she says. (USA, 2018, 7 min.)

All In: Alaska Heli Skiing | Directed by Scott Gaffney
Tune in for a tutorial on how to absolutely shred Alaskan spines. (USA, 2018, 4 min.)

Mi Mamá | Directed by James Q Martin, Jade Begay
There is a force of healing in nature and a power of connection — connection with ourselves, our hopes and dreams, and with the mystery and grandeur of life on our planet. For Nadia Iris Mercado, there is also in nature a connection with her ancestry. And, the connection she makes most strongly, and most tenderly, is with her mother — who sacrificed her own hopes and dreams to give Nadia the best possible chance to realize hers. (USA, 2019, 6 min.) 

The Wild Inside | Directed by Andrew Michael Ellis
“Saying goodbye to an animal – it’s hard,” says Chris, who is leaving Florence, Ariz. State Prison after serving a six-year sentence. He’s one of 30 minimum-security participants in the prison’s pioneering Wild Horse Inmate Program, working five days a week to “gentle” the wild mustangs, which are saved from slaughter. Training them as saddle horses keeps recidivism at bay in Arizona, where inmates face a 49 percent chance of reincarceration within five years. Since 2012, only three of the prison’s 53 WHIP trainers are back behind bars. (USA, 2019, 15 min.)

R.A.W. Tuba | Directed by Darren Durlach, David Larson
“I like the tuba because it reminds me of my life, it’s the underdog.” That’s Richard Antoine White, whose biography reads like a manual in how to overcome odds. White grew up intermittently homeless on the streets of Baltimore, and went on to become a world-class symphony musician, professor and the first African American in the world to receive a Doctorate in Music for Tuba Performance. He’s got music in him, yes. But he’s also got a drive rarely seen, even in the most competitive artistic circles. As he puts it, “the only thing that will stop me from being successful is death.” (USA, 2019, 29 min.)

Jágralama | Directed by Marek Partys
In the high steppe of Little Tibet, a young boy develops an unlikely obsession: ice hockey. He fashions pucks out of stones, trains on homemade skates and worships Czech hockey icon Jaromír Jágr. And he has his heart set on an outsized dream. (Czech Republic, 2018, 2 min.)

NOTE: Online tickets are now closed. A limited number of tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Seating is limited.

Local filmmakers of all ages were invited to submit films for the annual 3-Minute Film Competition. Join the Holland Project and the Nevada Museum of Art in a screening of the top films selected by a team of jurors. Participate in the process by casting your vote for your favorite.

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is a theatrical program featuring seven short films selected from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, widely considered the premier showcase for short films and the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers for more than 30 years. Fueled by artistic expression and limited only by their runtime, short films transcend traditional storytelling. They are a significant and popular way artists can connect with audiences. From documentary to animation, narrative to experimental, the abbreviated form is made for risk-taking.

Run time: 96 minutes. Recommended for 16+

PROGRAM

sometimes, i think about dying
Directed by Stefanie Abel Horowitz
Fran is thinking about dying, but a man in the office might want to date her. 2018, U.S., 13 minutes.

Fast Horse
Directed by Alexandra Lazarowich
The Blackfoot bareback horse-racing tradition returns in the astonishingly dangerous Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison Red Crow struggles with second-hand horses and a new jockey on his way to challenge the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy. 2018, Canada, 13 minutes.

Suicide by Sunlight
Directed by Nikyatu Jusu
Valentina, a day-walking Black vampire protected from the sun by her melanin, is forced to restrain her bloodlust to regain custody of her estranged daughters. 2018, U.S., 17 minutes.

Muteum
Directed by Äggie Pak Yee Lee
In an art museum, we learn – from outer to inner, from deep to its deepest, seriously and sincerely. 2017, Estonia/Hong Kong, no dialogue, 4 minutes.

Crude Oil
Directed by Christopher Good
Jenny breaks free from a toxic friendship and learns to harness her magical, useless superpower. 2019, U.S., 15 minutes.

The MINORS
Directed by Robert Machoian
A slice of life about a grandpa and his grandsons, the future and the past. 2018, U.S., 10 minutes.

Brotherhood
Directed by Meryam Joobeur
When a hardened Tunisian shepherd’s son returns home after a long journey with a new wife, tension rises between father and son. 2018, Canada/Tunisia/Qatar/Sweden, in Arabic with English subtitles, 25 minutes.

As a prominent public speaking coach and former political fundraiser, Amy Ayoub always encouraged her clients to be authentic and to share their personal stories—painfully aware that she wasn’t ready, yet, to tell her own. Then, in 2012, she learned about Nevada Assembly Bill 67, a bill designed to fight sex trafficking. The Zen Speaker: Breaking the Silence charts Amy’s transformational journey from a tumultuous childhood in Las Vegas to her emotionally wrenching testimony before the Nevada State Legislature in 2013.  A personal portrait, the film explores the emotional and physical devastation associated with sex trafficking; being a survivor; public vs private personas; and finding one’s voice in unexpected ways.

Following the screening there will be remarks by Director Robin Greenspun and “The Zen Speaker,” Amy Ayoub. Discussion will be moderated by Amanda Horn.

View the trailer here.

The Holland Project challenged film directors to create a music video from start-to-finish for local bands of Holland’s choosing in just 48 hours. Each filmmaker was also tasked with incorporating five elements into their films (as chosen by last year’s filmmakers). The five elements were not revealed until the clock was punched at the start of their 48-hour journey.

Join us for the screening of the results followed by a Q & A with the filmmakers and musicians.

This program is presented as part of the Youth and Community-Based Arts Initiative and is sponsored by NV Energy.

Long before Art Deco was a movement and prior to the arrival of the youth culture of MTV and Miami Vice, South Beach was home to the largest cluster of Jewish retirees in the country.

Intrigued by the small apartments, low-cost of living, sunny weather, and thriving cultural life, they came in the thousands seeking refuge from the Northeast’s brutal winters. By the 1970’s, these former New Yorkers were turning from seasonal visitors to year-round residents, all the while making Miami Beach home to a population that was primarily over 70 and overwhelmingly Jewish.

In The Last Resort, viewers embark on a journey to the iconic Miami Beach of yesterday thru the lens of young photographers Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe. With camera in hand, they embarked upon an ambitious 10-year project to document the aging population living in the sunburned paradise of 1970’s Miami Beach and into the changing, turbulent 1980’s. Working in different styles and approaches they captured the end of an era through engrossing black and white images by Monroe juxtaposed with Sweet’s captivating candy-hued color photos. The result is one of the most fascinating photographic documentation’s of a community ever caught on film.

Featuring interviews with Pulitzer prize winner Edna Buchanan, filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, Jewish Museum of Florida Executive Director Susan Gladstone and photographer Gary Monroe, The Last Resort is a celebration of some of Miami’s greatest visual artists and a stunning testament to a community all but forgotten…until now.

Film presented with support from Catherine and John Farahi.

The OutWest Film Fest celebrates the best of LGBTQ international film making. Session II will feature international and regional shorts, documentaries and a local films. Films include, A Cohort of Guests, Mankind, Break In, The Last Supper, Hiding in Daylight, The One You Never Forget, Time and Again and Always Dani. 

Following the screening of the last film Session II, Always Dani will be a Q & A with the film’s director Rosa Carranza. Carranza is a young filmmaker from Mexico City who recently finished her filmmaking studies at SAE, Mexico. Along with Always Dani, she is the director of Mr. Turtle, a short documentary that has been awarded the diploma for the best student film in 2018’s Jaipur’s International Film Festival. This documentary has also been a part of the official selection of Hidalgo’s Film Festival and Monterrey’s Film Festival (KinoStart).

*NOTE: There are two sessions for the OutWest Film Festival. Tickets to each session are sold separately.

chez louie will be open between sessions with a small bites menu (for purchase) and cash bar.

The OutWest Film Fest celebrates the best of LGBTQ international film making and will feature the documentary film, Light in the Water, followed by a special Q&A session with Director, Lis Bartlett and Taj Paxton, Executive Producer and Head of Logo Documentary Films.

Light in the Water shares the empowering story of West Hollywood Aquatics, the first openly gay masters swim team, from their founding in 1982 for the first ever Gay Games in San Francisco, through the AIDS crisis, and up to the present day. A television version of the film premiered on Logo TV June 2018 and it has now screened in over 10 film festivals around the world, including Paris, Glasgow, Sydney, London and Palm Springs, where in January it was voted “Best of Fest” by audiences. 

*NOTE: There are two sessions for the OutWest Film Festival. Tickets to each session are sold separately.

chez louie will be open between sessions with a small bites menu (for purchase) and cash bar.

Lis Bartlett: Emmy nominated Director Lis Bartlett has long been captivated by true stories. While pursuing degrees in Media Studies and Performing Arts and Social Justice at USF, she spent her summers cultivating her passion through Project Moonshine, a Reno, Nevada non-profit, teaching filmmaking skills to high school students. Lis has developed her filmmaking skills in Los Angeles by working in the editorial department of numerous projects, including Kobe Bryant’s Showtime documentary MUSE; and most recently as editor for two episodes of “The Pitch” for Audience Network.

Taj Paxton: Taj is an award-winning writer, director and producer who has won three consecutive Emmy Awards in the Documentary category. Taj was awarded the Humanitas Prize, given to works that inspire human freedom, for producing the independent feature film, Green Dragon. Her short film, A Fat Girl’s Guide to Yoga, won NBC’s Comedy Short Cuts Film Festival, as well as its Audience Award. Her most recent work as a filmmaker, the music-inspired short My Brothers Keeper, is a moving meditation of love and loss that asks the audience to expand their understanding of Black masculinity and Black fatherhood.  Taj’s entire career has been lived at the intersection of race, gender & sexual orientation and, equally important, at the intersection of art and social change. She believes a story well told is our best tool in the fight against bigotry and hatred. Her new company Tajsworld Productions is based at MTV Studios.

Drawn from a cache of personal video recordings from the past 22 years, director Steve Loveridge’s Sundance award winning MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. is a startlingly personal profile of the critically acclaimed artist, chronicling her remarkable journey from refugee immigrant to pop star. 

She began as Matangi. Daughter of the founder of Sri Lanka’s armed Tamil resistance, she hid from the government in the face of a vicious and bloody civil war. When her family fled to the UK, she became Maya, a precocious and creative immigrant teenager in London. Finally, the world met her as M.I.A. when she emerged on the global stage, having created a mashup, cut-and-paste identity that pulled from every corner of her journey along the way; a sonic sketchbook that blended Tamil politics, art school punk, hip-hop beats and the unwavering, ultra-confident voice of a burgeoning multicultural youth.   

Never one to compromise on her vision, Maya kept her camera rolling throughout. MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. provides unparalleled, intimate access to the artist in her battles with the music industry and mainstream media as her success and fame explodes, becoming one of the most recognizable, outspoken and provocative voices in music today. 

The Third Coast Dance Film Festival celebrates the intersection of contemporary dance and the moving image with a screening series of short dance films.  Currently entering its eighth season, the 2019 Third Coast Dance Film Festival lineup will include domestic and international films. Join festival co-founder Rosie Trump for an evening celebrating dance and the moving image.