Flashback to 1979 in the Roaring Fork Valley.
I had been living here a short time, having moved in January of 1974. The Rocky Mountains called out to me. And the major attractions for me as a professional dancer were the Aspen Music Festival and ballet classes with Ballet West in a miraculous outdoor tent in Snowmass. The temporary dance floor was smooth and buoyant, Toni Marks was a world-class instructor and the midday view when the tent flaps were up was looking down a valley over lush meadows to shining mountains.
Having left exciting but crowded ballet and Broadway jazz classes in Manhattan, I was thrilled. The year I drove back to New York City and decided I needed to reverse my circumstances — living here and performing elsewhere — was the best decision of my working life. Those first winters were rough though, because summer arts professionals went home and the overriding conversation was of snow conditions on the peaks or going up noses in bar restrooms.
I wasn’t a druggy, though I’m a hippy through and through and proud of it. But as I struggled earning my living with graphic design jobs and illustration assignments mailed to and from NYC, things improved. And that autumn in 1979, I met Ellen Kohner Hunt.
The festival founder sat behind a fold-out table in front of the Isis with signs that said FILMFEST with Gail Holstein, too. Two lit-up, friendly, cultured women who had also been around the arts block. They and others (thank you!) were showing new films for a small bit of cash (you could also volunteer) made by innovative creators. Wow. Ellen began meaningful discussions — as aesthetically evolved as anyone I’d met in North America or Europe. And she possessed that rare quality of infusing respect for art with good business. Those who said, “this will never fly, or good luck” as if the organizers were crazy and audacious, were not listened to.Those who were curious and eager were.
Was I living in a utopia? Well, part time anyway. Lorenzo Semple III also lived here. He was a superlative screenwriter who could be seen walking Main Street many mornings, to his writer’s den. We became friends and he encouraged my film making dreams like no other. It was the critic Gene Shallot (when I worked in Manhattan in publishing) who awoke me to my favorite film written by Lorenzo. It’s called Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Huh? Through the medium of “camp” we watch a feminine force protect nature and wildlife. Interesting. I go for content, not prestige.
I’ve attended the Cannes Film Festival three times. What is good there is that story comes first. Not who’s who? Their judges include actors, writers and artists, some known, some not. And here we are 47 years hence, with an international line-up of short films showing in our Isis Theatre and Wheeler Opera House next week.
Firstly, here are some numbers regarding Aspen Film’s Shortsfest, running April 7-11. Sixty-one films were selected from over 3,200 submissions, including 37 Colorado premieres, and representing 25 countries. You could likely find something to like. As a filmmaker, I regard figures, but then think. As an innovator, I surmise that originality is not always included in impressive lineups.
But we live in a small, thinking community, not run (for the most part) by outside opinion. Some shorts featured at the festival include “Zwermen,” from Netherlands and Belgium; “Jah! (Yes!)” from Estonia; “Balconada,” from Bulgaria and France; “The Boys and the Bees,” from Georgia (our bees need us); “A Shot at Art,” from Netherlands; “The Baddest Speech Writer of All,” from U.S. (concerning Martin Luther King Jr.); and “O’Sey Balamia,” from India (confronts solitude). You read I’m a peace and love gal so take my listings with that in mind and check out the Shortsfest calendar yourself at aspenfilm.org.
Innovative filmmakers contribute to creating society and we need them more than ever. I haven’t seen any of these films yet and I’m excited. And I trust that viewers absorb the personal transformation stories AND put that much called-for evolved care into our communities and lamenting world.
Aspen Film honors their founder with the Ellen award each year. How essential it is to remember that theatres, festivals, ski companies, our administrators and the filmmakers do not pop up like weeds after it rains (though many I’ve met act like they do).
Aspen Film is a remarkable 47-year achievement that is a result of countless people who love the expression of human feelings portrayed on a giant film screen.
How fortunate we are here to still be able to occupy a comfy red velvet chair, in a safe dark, quiet space, and contemplate. Please come, buy tickets, listen, watch and stand in the lobby or on the sidewalk after and reflect out loud about what you experienced. Brava.