Post Independent File
Stoked for winter recreation yet? Do the cold weather and scenes of snow-making on local mountains have you searching the dark corners of your garage and closets for your gear? Well, get set to add some more motivational momentum to your dream of digging your edges into some tasty powder.
The Winter Stoke Film Festival returns for its fourth year, screening over the next two Saturdays, first at Glenwood Springs’ Vaudeville Revue Theater on Nov. 16, and then at Carbondale’s Third Street Center on Nov. 23. The Glenwood show is sold out.
Each show will include three films less than three minutes long made by locals, audience voting, an awards ceremony, and then a screening of Warren Miller’s “Timeless” in Glenwood, and Matchstick Productions’ “Return to Thunder” in Carbondale. The Carbondale show will also feature a concert by local band C.A.R.P.
“We invited our local skiers and riders to make a short video of any winter exploitation,” said Troy Hawks, marketing and sales director for Sunlight Mountain Resort. “But most of the videos we receive are skiing and snowboarding.”
A panel of seven judges viewed all of this year’s entries and chose three finalists for each show. Audience members will vote for their favorite among the three films after they screen — then the awards ceremony, called the Golden Boot Awards, will commence, and there are righteous bucks involved.
The first place winner will receive $400, second place $250 and third place $100, and all three finalists will get two season passes to Sunlight. The winner also receives the “Golden Boot,” an actual ski boot painted with gold glitter.
This year’s finalists are Sean de Moraes, Marcus Kates and Joel Lentz in Glenwood, and Alex Kates, Jim Burr and Russ Brown in Carbondale.
The purpose of the film festival is twofold, Hawks said — to inspire local skiers and riders to share their exploits out on the mountain, and to raise funds for True Media Foundation, whose mission is to “train youth to produce media with positive social value,” according to its Facebook page.
“They work with local youth, at risk youth or other circumstances, and teach them video production skills, which is everything from taking video to editing to trying to put thoughts on paper about what kind of a story you want to tell with your video,” Hawks said.
Last year, Sunlight hosted its first on-snow video clinic at Sunlight with proceeds raised through the film festival.
“We felt like that was full circle to the Winterstoke Film Festival,” Hawks said. “It will first inspire our local skiers and riders, but also inspire local kids to pick up their cameras, learn these skills.”
