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SCSU student attends Telluride film festival
By Adam Johnson
Published:
Monday, September 22, 2003
Surrounded by 13,000-foot mountain peaks and boasting a population of less than 2,000 inhabitants, a secluded mining town in Colorado recently set the stage for one of the greatest experiences of an SCSU student's life.
Three weeks ago, senior Ben Pluimmer attended the 30th Telluride Film Festival, an annual event hosted by filmmakers from Hollywood and elsewhere who seek to bring people together to view and discuss the art of film.
Pluimmer was one of only 50 students worldwide selected to attend this event, which involved an in-depth look at movies for six days during Labor Day weekend.
"All anyone talks about are films," Pluimmer said. "You go to the bar and everyone's just talking about movies."
The festival showcased dozens of new films by mainstream and independent filmmakers, and Pluimmer got the rare opportunity to discuss the films he had seen with various directors and actors, including Gus Van Sant, Sofia Coppola, Chloe Sevigny and influential Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi.
"At the end of (Zanussi's) interview, he actually gave his personal business card out to everyone, and said that 'if you ever want to come to Poland, you can come stay with me in my house and work with me�'" Pluimmer said. "I couldn't believe it. You never see people doing that kind of thing anymore."
Telluride has developed a reputation as one of the only "pure" film festivals left. Unlike most events, which are driven by marketing and the desire to strike deals with studios, Telluride is solely dedicated to the appreciation of film.
"I've talked to people who have been to Sundance and Cannes, and they said that this was definitely their favorite," Pluimmer said.
Pluimmer has been making films for several years and learned of the festival from Film Studies Director Brad Chisholm, who was proud to note that, despite the limited tickets available at Telluride, a student representative from St. Cloud has been able to attend almost every year.
Pluimmer applied online this past spring, which required him to write an essay about the preservation of film. Upon being selected, he was given a free pass, which included access to every event, as well as food and drink. In addition, he was given $200 spending money for the weekend. The only expenses not covered by the pass were transportation and lodging, so Pluimmer decided to save a few dollars and made the drive to Colorado himself.
"I drove about 23 hours, which was horrible," Pluimmer said. "But I took my video camera with and filmed a bit on the way down, as well as all of the interviews with filmmakers."
Pluimmer is currently working on a number of video segments about the festival and hopes to airing them on UTVS in the coming months.
He encourages anyone with an interest in film to take part in this unique opportunity, stating that even though they were kept incredibly busy, usually attending meetings and screenings from 7 a.m. until at least midnight, the experience was more than worth it.
"The whole time, everyone was going on about four hours of sleep (a night)," Pluimmer said. "But it was really amazing."
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