The Heart of Mountainfilm

In 2010, my partner Christopher and I were just beginning to work on our first documentary, TINY: A Story About Living Small, about people who have downsized their lives into homes smaller than 120-square feet. We both had backgrounds in film and writing, but had never directed a project of our own, so we cast our net to our Boulder, Colorado, community and asked two friends to meet us for lunch. We sat down with Samara, a former co-worker, and Joe, who had just finished a whirlwind tour as one of the characters/crew in The Cove, to ask for filmmaking advice.

“Go to Mountainfilm!” they said.

And so three weeks later we did, following the first and most valuable words of wisdom we’ve been given. We arrived in Telluride knowing few people, but felt like we had found our tribe: people devoted to watching and listening, documenting their world and unafraid to jump into it and get their hands dirty, to find solutions to some of the most complex and pressing questions that we face.

Just as Samara and Joe had predicted, that first trip to Mountainfilm gave us the push that Christopher and I needed to launch into our first film. Throughout production we returned to Mountainfilm again and again, finding that each year, we recognized more faces and found more old friends. Our community was (and still is) growing. And this year, with TINY finally complete, we were honored to bring the film (and our Tiny House!) to Mountainfilm in Telluride as full-fledged filmmakers for our Colorado premiere.

What makes Mountainfilm so special? It’s the one thing that’s impossible to market or to replicate, to devise or fabricate. It’s heart. This past Memorial Day weekend at Mountainfilm, I found myself face-to-face with people who have risked their lives to fight homophobia in Uganda, who used their life savings to start a nonprofit for teenage girls coming out of slavery and prostitution, people who are re-thinking consumption and apathy in ways big and small, tracking endangered species in their local villages, growing gardens, riding bikes, taking kids from their neighborhood to visit National Parks. People who have faced bare rock walls and decided to climb them with nothing but their hands. And the best part? After the Q&As were over and the theaters emptied, all of those people were willing to stand on the sidewalk and talk to every single person who approached them. In the audiences (and in line waiting for coffee or burritos all across town), people were turning around and talking to each other, hatching plans and sharing stories. That’s heart.

It’s the one ingredient that no story can do without. Which is why Samara and Joe’s encouragement to “Go to Mountainfilm” as we embarked on our first film was the best advice we could have gotten. We didn’t know yet how much work would be involved in making a film, how much time and money we would need to scrounge up, how much wherewithal it would take to stick with the creative process for the long haul. But when things did get difficult, we were able to come back to our original goal: to tell a story that would encourage people to think about their relationships to home, place, and the stuff they own. More than any technical tricks or professional connections (though those abound at Mountainfilm, too), we needed inspiration and a reminder of our power to impact people at the get-go.

After a weekend at Mountainfilm, sitting by passively is simply not an option. Not when it’s so clear that we’re equipped with the tools and the ability to make change. The message I always come away with is: The most challenging work is also the most fulfilling. And when we put a little effort into cultivating relationships, there will always be people to give us advice or a little help when we most need it.

We all have hearts and hands. We all have stories and lives that impact countless others every minute of every day. We have everything we need to make a difference, but Mountainfilm gives us the community and the spark to begin. And year after year, to keep going.

Happy 35th birthday Mountainfilm and thank you for inspiring me!

—Merete Mueller