Telluride opens Backlot

Festival will mix new films with an historic Academy exhibition in its new venue.

By Sheigh Crabtree, The Envelope
August 21, 2007

The Telluride Film Festival will mix ten new films with an historic Academy exhibition in a new festival venue when it begins later this month.

The special programming, which inaugurates a new tradition at Telluride, will unspool in Backlot, a new screening room built in the mountain town's Wilkinson Library. Amid the books, ten specially selected projects, described as "new works exploring the world of film," will screen over the four-day festival. The ten films will be announced with the rest of the festival line-up on the eve of the event's opening.

The new Backlot space will also house a special exhibition on loan from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences entitled, "Erich von Stroheim: A Life Discovered." The curated collection contains the director's personal photos, stills from his films, handwritten documents and correspondence.

The 34th Telluride Film Festival, runs August 31 through September 3, 2007.