Film festivals are kind of like chocolate. It’s all good, but the good stuff is better. Our 5 Point adventure film festival here in Carbondale is the goods. It’s a festival with a purpose, not just a confab of people in black yammering about themselves. The whole deal is summarized in the festival’s “5 Points,” which are used as criteria for selecting and judging films.
My favorite of the points is “Humility — To assume the courage and the discipline to listen to our intuition and not our egos, always mindful of our place in the natural order.”
Yeah, it’s tough for an adventure film festival to select pics that further the concept of humbleness. Indeed, it’s tough to be a goal oriented mountaineer and always be humble. I raise my hand and testify. Some of my best days have been when I’m out there being humble — and I’ve been an arrogant ass enough times to know the difference.
Beda Calhoun of 5-Points premiers their new festival trailer here in Carbondale last evening.
So, last night I went to one of 5-Point’s local events. This time they showed their new 2010 festival trailer. It’s pretty exciting, though pure eye candy that doesn’t do much for any philosophical higher purposes. That’s ok, as the films they select this year will be the best of the adventure genre — and I’m sure some will indeed promulgate some of the 5 Points, including humbleness. Check the trailer here.
Last evening we also checked out the trailer for 180 south, a film that hearkens back to Yvon Chipboard and friends 1968 adventure road trip down to Patagonia. The flick premiered last winter but I’ve not seen it yet (though I would have liked to have reviewed it by now, too much other stuff going on). It looks to be quite the interesting effort. At first glance, I can’t help thinking ‘yeah, us guys in their 50s and 60s love to relive our glory days, but Yvon gets to make a feature film out of his — typical.” Yet from what I can glean from the trailer and website, the film goes sufficiently beyond that (though perhaps a bit too long and evangelical on the enviro side, from what I’ve heard.) How 180 South does with the 5 Points and any festival awards, we shall see.
Some of you have probably seen 180 South, what did you think?
The 5 Points of 5 Points:
Respect
For each other, for the environment, for the experience and for the knowledge we inherit from those who inspire and teach us.Commitment
To overcome fear and give ourselves completely to the challenge at hand while leading a vital existence and never allowing ourselves to become complacent.Humility
To assume the courage and the discipline to listen to our intuition and not our egos, always mindful of our place in the natural order.Purpose
To muster the motivation and conviction necessary to pursue our highest aspirations in the face of adversity.Balance
To maintain our focus and energy in life, in nature, and on the journeys we undertake while things we cannot control shift around us.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
