Plum News & Events
SKIP TO: Day One | The Day Before The Festival Begins | It's Show Time!
Every year, Plum Media video producer Evan Watters trades Milwaukee for the mountains of Colorado and three weeks immersed in one of the film world’s most anticipated events: the Telluride Film Festival.
For Evan—and for Plum—the trip is more than a chance to see great movies. We view it as professional development: an opportunity for one of our producers to spend time studying exceptional filmmaking, storytelling, performances and creative choices, then bring some of that inspiration back to the work we do every day.
This year, we’re bringing you along. Evan will be sharing observations from Telluride, the films generating buzz, and some of the creative ideas that caught his attention along the way.
And once the screenings are over, he’ll be back with his annual Top 10 films from the festival—including the movies he thinks we’ll still be talking about when awards season arrives.
Enjoy Evan’s notes from Telluride…
Day 1: Building the room
Evan arrived late yesterday afternoon and spent the evening catching up with the many friends he’s made over years of returning to Telluride. This morning started with a gondola commute from his housing to the Werner Herzog Theatre, which is a pretty memorable way to start a workday.
Work at the theater had already begun earlier in the week as crews began converting the ice rink into the largest venue of the festival, so some of the biggest structural pieces were already in place when he arrived. The speakers were hung. The trusses were in.
Day one was about pushing the room closer to show-ready. That ment the work focused on blacking out the windows, raising the trusses, building the stage, and putting the massive screen in place.
Tomorrow will be a big push as the team brings in the risers and seats. That’s when the venue starts to feel less like a worksite and more like the theater people came to experience.
The Day Before The Festival Begins
The theater is built.
The screen is up, the speakers are connected, and every film has been tested. We built the risers and loaded in all the seats in a single day, which still feels ridiculously fast.
Today the volunteers arrive, and tomorrow the festival begins. By the time it’s fully underway, about 5,000 people will come through. I also got to share a rough cut of my short film at our little annual talent show that I made with a mix of Telluride friends and Plum staff.
It's Show Time!
The festival is fully underway now. The buzziest movie so far is The Debut, which stars Paul Giamatti and Julianne Moore.
As the weekend has gone on, the days have filled up fast with screenings, panels and quick conversations between shows. Telluride likes to keep people on their toes. Last night included a ultra-secret screenings at the venue I had set up that make the festival feel unlike anywhere else.
The last day brings the Labor Day picnic. There was also a great exhibit focused on Laika’s stop-motion work ahead of Wildwood, a good reminder that part of what makes this festival so fun is how much craft is on display, both on the screen and around it.
We’ll keep adding to this journal as Evan’s time at the Telluride Film Festival continues.
About Telluride Film Festival
The prestigious Telluride Film Festival ranks among the world’s best film festivals and is
an annual gathering for film industry insiders, cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers, and
critics. TFF is considered a major launching ground for the fall season’s most talked about films. Founded in 1974, Telluride Film Festival, presented in the beautiful mountain town of Telluride, Colorado, is a four-day international educational event celebrating the art of film. Telluride Film Festival’s long-standing commitment is to join filmmakers and film connoisseurs together to experience great cinema. The exciting schedule, kept secret until just before Opening Day, consists of over three dozen filmmakers presenting their newest works, special Guest Director programs, major Tributes to guest artists, special events, and remarkable treasures from the past. Telluride Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational program. Festival headquarters are in Berkeley, CA.
