Mountainfilm awarded more than $34,000 in cash prizes at its 48th annual festival, naming winners across juried and audience categories during the closing picnic and awards ceremony in Telluride’s Town Park on May 25.
The festival ran May 21-25 in Telluride’s box canyon, screening documentaries spanning environmentalism, social justice and adventure. Juries, passholders and students cast votes to determine the winners.
Kikuyu Land, directed by Andrew H. Brown and Bea Wangondu, won Best Documentary Feature and a $5,000 prize. The Grandfather Puzzle, directed by Ora DeKornfeld, took Best Documentary Short Film, also worth $5,000. Teeth to the Wind, directed by Drew Smith and Ben Knight, won the Charlie Fowler Best Adventure Film award and $2,500.
Audience voting handed the Audience Choice Award for a feature to Best Day Ever, directed by Ben Knight and Berne Broudy, with a $5,000 prize. Submitting Tigers, directed by Luke Kellerhouse, won the Audience Choice Award for a short and $1,000.
Other winners included Nuisance Bear, directed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden, which received the James Balog Creative Vision Award and $5,000; La Tierra del Valor (The Home of the Brave), directed by Cristina Costantini, which won the Women in Film Award and $3,500; A Storied Landscape (He Moʻolelo Wahi Pana), directed by Kuʻulei Keakealani and Kapena Liu, which took the First Peoples Award and $2,500; Fletcher Street, directed by Jannat Gargi and David Darg, which won the Moving Mountains Award and $2,500 alongside its associated nonprofit, the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club; Your Attention Please, directed by Sara Robin, which received the Student Choice Award and $2,000; and Rainbow Rider, directed by Georgia Krause, which won the LGBTQ+ Impact Award.
The festival also presented its inaugural Hilaree Nelson Lifetime Adventure Award to Jim Morrison and the Golden Heart Award to Mandy Horvath.
Special jury mentions went to Panther Pat for Best Documentary Short Film and Submitting Tigers for the Charlie Fowler Best Adventure Film award.
The Best Documentary Feature jury comprised Carrie Lozano, Claudia Puig and Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana. The Best Documentary Short Film jury was Christie Marchese, Faridah Gbadamosi and Tim Horsburgh. Jurors for the Charlie Fowler Best Adventure Film award were Jodie Nelson, Nikki Smith and Philip Henderson, and the First Peoples Award jury was Inuk Jørgensen, Len Necefer and Loren Waters.
“We were honored to share an extraordinary collection of films this year,” Mountainfilm Executive Director Sage Martin said. “These stories stretched across genres, perspectives and continents, yet all carried the power to transport us beyond the boundaries of our everyday lives.”
Established in 1979, Mountainfilm is one of North America’s longest-running documentary film festivals and an Academy Award-qualifying festival in the documentary short film category. It is held annually over Memorial Day weekend in Telluride.