Mountainfilm is a documentary film festival that showcases nonfiction stories about environmental, cultural, climbing, political and social justice issues in Telluride, Colorado.
Mountainfilm began in 1979, when Telluride was completing its transition from a hard-rock gold and silver mining community to a destination resort and ski town.
Lito Tejada-Flores, after screening his adventure and mountaineering film Fitzroy at the Trento festival in Italy, and Bill Kees, a local climber and avid outdoorsman, inaugurated the event.
In 1980, Jeff Lowe and Family were the headliners and Bill Kees, Lito Tejada-Flores became retired directors and supporters.
[1] Mountainfilm has hosted such speakers as Bill McKibben, Chris Sharma, Wade Davis, Sandra Steingraber, Sir Edmund Hillary, Richard Holbrooke, Dianne Feinstein, Galen Rowell, George Schaller, Phil Borges, Frans Lanting, Lynn Hill, David Brower, Pete Athans, Timmy O'Neill, Subhankar Banerjee, David Breashears, Norman Vaughan, Martin Litton, James Balog, Maurice Herzog, Gretel Ehrlich, Timothy Treadwell, David James Duncan, Julia Butterfly Hill, John Grunsfeld, Angela Fisher, Paul Pritchard, Rick Ridgeway and Carl Pope.