Big tour makes small impact
Mountainfilm brings movies on Zero Emissions bike route
Drew Ludwig, of Telluride Mountainfilm, will ride his bike a total of 2,000 miles for the Zero Emissions Tour, which will bring films from the festival to a free showing at Ghost Ranch Saloon at 7 p.m. today.
Friday, July 3, 2009
If you go
What: Zero Emissions Tour, a presentation of Telluride Mountainfilm, sponsored by Ski Haus and Ghost Ranch Saloon
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Ghost Ranch Saloon, 56 Seventh St.
Cost: Free
Call: 879-0385
For more information: To learn more about Telluride Mountainfilm festival and the Zero Emissions Tour, go to www.mountainfilm.org.
Jimmy Chin/Courtesy Photo
Renan Ozturk's "Samsara," chronicling an expedition in India's Vindhya Mountains, is one of the short films that will be screened at 7 p.m. today at Ghost Ranch Saloon as part of Telluride Mountainfilm's Zero Emissions Tour.
Steamboat Springs — On Thursday afternoon, Telluride Mountainfilm tour presenter Drew Ludwig was on a bike, en route from Carbondale to Steamboat Springs as part of a tour that will take him to Wyoming and Utah later in the summer.
Since June, Ludwig has been carrying environmental, cultural and adventure films screened in May at Telluride Mountainfilm festival to Vail, Boulder, Salida, Crested Butte and other towns. By the time the tour ends in Grand Junction on July 29, Ludwig will have biked 2,000 unsupported miles.
At 7 p.m. today, the Zero Emissions Tour makes a stop at Ghost Ranch Saloon. Ludwig will screen five to 10 films, with one feature accompanied by several shorts, said Justin Clifton, director of Mountainfilm on Tour. Admission is free, and Ghost Ranch will host a ticketed show by blues-rock musician Chris Watson after the films wrap up.
The goal of Zero Emissions is to make a broad point about environmental impact and encourage people to bike or walk anytime they can, Clifton said.
"We're dong that with a much larger expression by getting on our bikes to go out and do the tour, which typically is planes, trains and automobiles," he said.
Ski Haus and Ghost Ranch Saloon are sponsoring the tour in Steamboat. Ski Haus employee Todd Givnish, a local organizer for the tour, said the event will include top-quality films and probably will last about 2 1/2 hours.
"They're all extremely professionally done films," Givnish said, mentioning a friend from Boulder who regularly submits work to the festival and has done film work for TV shows including "Deadliest Catch" and "Storm Chasers."
"It's not your grass-roots, kids and camcorder and a little bit of editing equipment. It's legitimate, professional-quality stuff," Givnish said.
Zero Emissions organizers hope to promote the 2010 festival and give exposure to the 2009 films in a way that gets people thinking about the environment, Clifton said.
"We treat film as conversation, so this is designed to start a broader conversation about the small changes people can make in their day-to-day lives to make a smaller impact," he said.
