YOUR AD HERE »

Aspen Mountain Film Fest hosts winter edition

Staff report

The Wheeler Opera House will host a two-day, 17-film Winter Edition of its Aspen Mountain Film Festival this weekend.

The new sister documentary festival to the August flagship is a partnership between the Wheeler and Ute Mountaineer, which had previously produced a festival of selections from the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

The Aspen Mountain Film Festival: Winter Edition will run Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.



The short-film selections span diverse mountain cultures and the shared experiences of travel, adventure, environment, sustainability, community and extraordinary storytelling.

“I’m very excited to bring this new mid-winter film programming to the community, in partnership with the Ute Mountaineer,” Wheeler director Gena Buhler said last month in the festival announcement.




Film selections include the Grateful Dead-inspired “Fire on the Mountain.” Screening in Friday night’s program, it tracks a cast of some of the world’s best athletes on a spontaneous journey of skiing, snowboarding, surfing and music, complete with an all-Dead soundtrack. Narrated by NBA Hall of Famer and Deadhead Bill Walton, it includes snowboarders Jeremy Jones, Danny Davis and Kimmy Fasani, along with skiers Michelle Parker and Chris Benchetler.

Additional selections include the dancer profile “At Present,” the Colorado premiere of the mountaineering film “Beni Transalp,” the Yellowstone-based “Colter,” the female ski-jumping short “Danger Daisy” and artist-skier Fritz Perry profile “Making Turns.”

“We are thrilled to put ‘Fire on the Mountain’ onto the big screen, where I feel it belongs, as it meshes fantastic cinematography with classic and beloved music, which will be a must see (and hear) in our venue,” Buhler said. “Audiences can expect two wonderful evenings of adventure film programming in line with what we bring to the screen each August with the flagship festival.”

Full lineup online at wheeleroperahouse.com; tickets at the Wheeler box office and aspenshowtix.com.