Telluride ‘25 summary

 I saw 12 films total. As I compile this list, I realized how good many of them were. So I’ll categorize them as follows:

A list:

Hamnet;  it was just an accident ; blue moon; Tuner;

Jay Kelly;  A private life;  Lost in the jungle

B list:

Shifty; H is for Hawk;  if I had legs I’d kick you; Sentimental Value ; History of sound. Turns out they «  sentimental »  was Loved by many —so ignore my views  

Two films I missed and now want to see  (others in my group saw  them) were La Gracia and Springsteen. I definitely want to see La Gracia. It got lots of buzz.

Telluride Labor Day

 Normally, on the last day, they leave a couple of blank spots in the program at our venue for TBAs But oddly this year, they did not do that. It’s a little bit frustrating because sometimes there are some really well received films that we never get to see here. Oh well. We get what we get..

First up was a tribute to Jamar Panahi, an Iranian filmmaker I had not been familiar with before. He has been arrested  & imprisoned for making films that are critical of the regime. The bio we got about him and the interview with him were very touching. He talked about the circumstances of trying to have art in a totalitarian state. A filmmaker who works with him is currently in prison, and he concluded his interview by saying that he wanted all of us to say happy birthday to his friend. He put his phone  towards the audience while we sang happy birthday. It was so touching that after it he could not speak.

The film of his that was screened was « it was just an accident. »  it had won the Palme d’or at Cannes this year. A very interesting story. I highly recommend it. 

Second was « A private life » starring Jodie Foster. ( she attended a film that we saw yesterday and sat a few seats away).  We were surprised to learn that she is fluent in French as the movie was in French!  She played a therapist who, after the death of a patient, becomes a detective. It was a very enjoyable film. My francophile friends will really like it. 

Third film today was called « sentimental value ». I’m afraid I slept through a fair amount so I can’t give a good assessment. But for the parts I was awake, it felt very Bergman like. I found out later people adored this one so my sleeping likely clouded my opinion!  

And the grande finale: » Hamnet »Directed by Chloe Zhao And starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. After the film, we agreed we should just hand her the academy award. No need to bother with other nominations It is the story of Shakespeare, who, following the death of his son, writes Hamlet as a tool for getting over the death. This was a highly anticipated film, and it did not disappoint. The director was present to introduce it. Must see!  It’s so excellent to have such wonderful female directors!

I don’t have time to proofread and correct this post right now. some thoughts are rather incomplete. Sorry. No time And I also want to add a summary of my overall impressions. I will do that later.

Telluride day 3

 The day began with a tribute to writer/director Noah Baumbach. The clips of his movies reminded me how many movies of his I’ve loved! Following the clips was an interview with him, which was delightful. He spent a bit of time talking about « the squid and the whale »   as well  as « Francis Ha, »which is one we saw Telluride. I would like to revisit some of his films. Also, during the tribute,  Laura Dern and Adam Sandler (who are in the film he brought today ) paid  tribute to him from an actor’s perspective. Very sweet. So his screening today was the one I already saw: « Jay Kelly ». I debated about whether to attend it again or skip it and ultimately decided to watch it again. George Clooney was not able to be here, but it was fun hearing from Bombach and Laura Dern and Adam Sandler. 

Next today was a Brazilian story which I decided to skip: the «  secret agent ». I need to pace myself.

So the second one I saw today was called « Tuner» starring Dustin Hoffman and Daniel Roher, as a piano tuner. He had been a piano virtuoso who had to stop playing due to an ailment called hyperacusis— an extreme hypersensitivity to loud noises.  Don’t want to tell much about this movie because I think it’s going to be very popular and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I highly recommend it to everyone.  Really an old school movie that had everything— Struggles, love, crime, drama… 

There were two more films screened tonight, But I skipped them. Actually, all of us skipped one of them in order to have a decent meal at dinner time. The late night one was going to go till after 11:00 so I passed.

And the festival is nearly over. Just one more day. It goes so fast.

Telluride Day 2

 I was very excited about the beginning of today. The festival is paying tribute to Ethan Hawke. So as they usually do with tributes, they showed clips from his films. I had seen a number of them, of course, but I have to say I gained much more appreciation of him today than I ever would’ve imagined.  After the clips were shown, they had an interview with him and he was impressive. Then they screened a new film of his called  « Blue Moon »—-which was one of his famous songs, of course, as well as my funny valentine, The lady is a tramp etc.  

 It’s the story of Lorenz Hart of the team, Rogers and Hart. Musical theater! Virtually all of the action was in Sardis. The time period is just after Roger and Hart split up and Rogers teams up with Oscar Hammerstein. It’s opening night of Oklahoma. Hart left the show a little early and got to the restaurant ahead of the rest of the folks. Through his ongoing dialogue with the bartender we really get to know the man. I was amazed at the transformation of Hawke!  He is well deserving of some serious awards. Throughout the entire film, the piano player in the bar is playing musical theatre numbers from the period. I bit my tongue not to sing along with them.  Director is Richard Linklater, who has collaborated with Hawk on many occasions. The two leading actors and director were present to greet us before the screening. Very special!😀 

The second film today was « lost in the jungle ». It is the real story of four children whose airplane crashes in Amazon jungle. It was a documentary, chronicling the experience of these children surviving in a jungle. Really an amazing story. Turned out it was much more of a story than I had anticipated. I  recommend it for folks who like documentaries.

Third today was « H is for Hawk »  staring Claire Foy as an academic at Cambridge, who, after losing a loved one, decides to train a hawk (in a similar fashion as people who train a falcon). She becomes rather obsessed with it and we follow her as she works out her grief. The cinematography was beautiful and her portrayal convincing.Several Films here have been directed by women (yay ) and this one was Philippa Lowthorpe who was here to introduce it.

So today I saw four! The Final one  was «  the history of Sound. » It’s a very misleading title. It takes place in the early 1900s and shows a couple of academics who research folk music. But the real story is the relationship between these two men played by Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.

Telluride Day 1

 Today was the official start to the festival.  The first film was « Shifty » —an Adam Curtis documentary, which was actually a five part series— A total of 347 minutes long! It’s a UK film and I’m not certain what wide screenings that will get in the US but it was really fascinating. Paraphrasing from part of the the program, Curtis uses archival film or TV images from cultural history to construct new often ironic meaning. He looks at the recent history of Great Britain, beginning with Margaret Thatcher and the failed initiatives and the resulting chaos leading into the 21st century which the program described as the 21st century dominated by fragmented half truths and materialism. Many parallels to what is going on in this country today. Brilliant ideas like privatization. 🤪 An example was given of the failed privatization of the water system in Great Britain and the resulting poisoning of people and animals. Stupidity! Extremely long, but really thought provoking. We lasted through all of it without complaint. Several other years, we have had a multi part series shown on Friday and it works well. Often, these are series that we might not see otherwise.

The second film, we saw today was written and directed by Mary Bronstein called « if I had legs, I’d kick you. » Let me quote from the program: « Imagine Cassavetes’  «  woman under the influence », pluck down in the hallucinatory world of David Lynch, and you’ll have a place to start. »  Rose Byrne played the lead, a therapist on Long Island trying to cope with a very sick child and an absentee husband. Interestingly, Conan O’Brien played her therapist. A very unconventional part for him, but I think he did an excellent job. Exhausting but worthwhile. Both the author and leading lady were here to introduce the film. That’s always special.

I decided to pace myself tonight and skip the last film. I need to get through the weekend! So I’m getting to bed at a reasonable time. Pooped!

(as always, please forgive any typos or poor wording. I’m often very tired when I write these!) 

But we’re off to an excellent start.😀

Telluride Thurs

 We picked up our show programs today and we’re thrilled to see who will be here. Last year the actors could not come because of the strike so we felt deprived 😉.  Unsure if I will see everyone, but look at this list:

Ethan Hawke, who will get a tribute as a director, Filmmaker Richard Linklater, Emma Stone, Jodie Foster, Dustin Hoffman, Noah Bombach, who will receive a tribute as a filmmaker, George Clooney, Laura Dern, Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup, Ken Burns, of course, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Strong, Alexander Skarsgård, Riz Ahmed.  What a list!

So this afternoon, I was invited to a special screening and was happy but sad because it was the Noah Bombach movie with George Clooney, Laura Dern, and others, and the only reason I was disappointed was when it is shown at our venue on the weekend, they will be there to introduce the film. They were not there today because they were in Venice at the Venice festival. They won’t get here till tomorrow.The film is by Netflix so I assume it will be available at some point.

So the film is called « Jay Kelly », which is the character played by Clooney. He is an aging movie star going through some existential questioning about who he is and what his life has meant. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I’m kind of a pushover. I actually thought it was one of his better acting jobs. I found the story line provocative and I may just decide to see it a second time. That’s what I did last year when I saw « Conclave »  early and then it came to our venue a couple days later. Oh well. 

So things are off to a wonderful start. We went out to a nice dinner tonight because for the next three days will be grabbing snacks in between films. 

I think we’re all pretty happy with the condo this year. We had stayed here a number of years ago, but had quite a few complaints. In the meantime, they have renovated and it’s much improved! And the distance to get to our theater is quite m  acomfortable. If you’ve read this blog before you know that we buy the festival pass that only lets us go to one venue. That way we don’t have to run all over town to seven other theaters. We just don’t get to choose our films. We see what comes to us. But I have adapted to that very well over the years.

On a personal note, last year, I had a lot of trouble acclimating to the altitude. It was really my breathing that was way out of whack. Last September I started seeing the allergist and after a year of  treatment I am not having trouble this year. Is absolutely amazing the difference it has made!  

By the way, you may have noticed some hot links in this post. Google has added this new feature. They found 15 different Google searches related to words I used and added the hot links. I’ll try it out and see if I like it. You may or may not care to go to any of them. But I’ll try it out.

Happy to be here for a year 22( for me).  

Jane

En route to Telluride Aug 26,2025

 It finally feels real. Another year has passed & it is festival time. I’ll spend tonight in Montrose & shuttle tomorrow to Telluride / Mt Village where I’ll meet the other 4 gals. They’re driving from Denver. (Ugh! ) 

On Thursday I’m invited to a special screening as a member of the legacy circle. So that day will be my first festival post. Then Friday I expect to see 2-3 films & the festival begins!

Each year a different artist designs an unique poster. Here’s this year’s. 

Mar 27 Spoleto to Rome

We left Spoleto in the morning heading to Rome. On the way we stopped  the village of  Orvieto. It was built by the Etruscans atop a cliff which served as a natural barrier like a wall would do in medieval times. The façade of the church was really special. I don’t think the pictures really do it justice. And the stained glass window in the photo was restored at the shop where we visited yesterday!  That was very cool —to see the end result of the work they do at that stained glass studio.

The weather today was rainy in the morning and then very cold with a lot of wind. It was the worst weather day of the trip but fortunately it did not really get in the way of our visit.

We arrived at our hotel at the Rome airport late afternoon. Most of the group is leaving tomorrow morning, but Merle and I will stay one more day and go to Rome tomorrow. We both have been there before, but she had not seen the Vatican before so that’s what we are going to do.

This has been the most friendly group and we have really appreciated that. Our guide was adequate but not fantastic. We have definitely had better guides before.

So this might be my last post or perhaps I will write something tomorrow. Ta ta for now. 

( 

 

Mar 26 Perugia

 First an observations I have made. There is more smoking being done here than I have seen in many years. A lot of young people and a lot of females are the smokers.  In addition, the E cigarettes are quite popular. Sad. 

Today we went to Perugia starting with a visit to a studio where stained glass is made or restored . The man who gave us a tour was very knowledgeable and very, very interesting. He talked about the processes for making stained glass and how it has evolved over the years. There were lots of examples we saw— most of them religious, as you would expect because they are intended for a church, but some examples were not. The building had been a residence and now was home to the studio.We all thoroughly enjoyed this visit. I will enclose quite a few photos. The one of the 1st Italian queen was one of the first secular glass windows made.  It was astonishingly realistic. The artists who began this business here were first painters who then learned the art of stained glass. Very impressive art.  The photos of an interior of a house show possessions that the original owner had.

We were on our own for lunch and Merle and I had a pasta like ravioli with a salad and it was a lovely restaurant And good food. After, Merle found a very cute purse that was made from recycled leather, and each purse was an original. 

The afternoon was a walking tour of Perugia. But my legs were rebelling, so I stopped at a gelato shop and had gelato to wait for the group. 

A number of people in our group have gotten sick and we have agreed to wear a mask when we are in the bus. Good plan. Each day for several days, we have had one or more fewer travelers in our excursion. It felt like “and then there were none.” ( our next show!)

Tonight is our farewell dinner. Normally it is held on the last night but since some people have to get up in the middle of the night to get a flight, they moved it back one day. So we will have our dinner here at our hotel and then tomorrow head for Rome.

We had discussed possibly going to Pompeii, which neither of us had ever seen for our extra day at the end. But logistically it’s not a good idea. The trip would be 12 to 14 hours and after all the travel we’ve done, we don’t need to rush. So instead, on Friday Merle and I will go to the Sistine Chapel. I have seen it before, but she had not. She got us tickets. We both have seen quite a bit of Rome, so we don’t need to do the normal tourist things there.

I am off to join the group for dinner now.

Mar 25 Assisi

 Our excursion today was to Assisi —where Saint Francis’ Basilica is.  Our local guide was one of the better ones.She walked us through the Basilica and pointed out key features. It had quite a different look from other Churches and cathedrals. ( I don’t know why when I dictate sometimes it randomly capitalizes words. Know that it is not me! )

It was amazing how quiet it was for our visit. The guide said that in a few weeks it will be overrun with tourists, but today was very nice. We were fortunate. We had lunch as a group and then had some free time to walk around the village. The weather was spectacular today! Beautiful blue skies and warm sunny day. We have not had really bad weather, but today was by far the best.The lunch was about five courses! I am going to attach the dessert pix from last night and today. Mamma Mia!  

We had the evening to ourselves, so Merle and I are going for a light bite and an early bed for once! I guess I am definitely getting old, because I look forward to my normal routine and food at home.

Mar 24 Spoleto

 As this was the first full day here, we spent the day in Spoleto. In the morning we had a private visit at city hall and learned about the city. Sounds boring but it wasn’t. A council member in charge of education here told us about the schools, for example. 

Next was my favorite part: the theatre in Spoleto!  We went to the old theatre ( smaller) & the new theatre.  Stages were raked.  There were really fun pictures of productions over the years. In the new theater a terrace was named for Jerome Robbins. Woody Allen had directed an opera in Italy so they had his picture on the wall. And John Malkovich participated in one of the Spoleto festivals. It would have been special to see a performance here, but it would have been in Italian so I’m not sure we could have enjoyed it. I have many more pictures than the ones I have posted here.

The group had a walking tour in the afternoon, but given that we walked the entire morning. I decided to skip that. I understand I did not miss too much.

Our dinner tonight was over-the-top spectacular. The food on this trip has been excellent. But of course way too much food. And too late at night for my taste.But it’s Italy after all.  

Mar 23– Siena to Spoleto

 

It’s Sunday. We loaded our bags onto our bus & headed to Umbria.  En route we stopped at the village of Gabbio.  This is my favorite place of all we’ve seen. Like all of the other medieval villages, this one had picturesque streets, cobblestones, and a wonderful old world flavor. Our local guide took us to a little museum displaying the tools that various craftsman have used over the years. ( masons, carpenters etc). That’s where I saw this ( see picture )very early movie projector. Our guide, then took us to a little shop where a lady was weaving scarves.

Other pix—-this little dog reminded me of my puppy. ❤️Same tail. And the other picture of a Christmas tree was on a poster showing this monstrous tree they create every year that sits at the end of the town. He said it is the largest in the world according to the Guinness book and it was even seen from the International space station! I saw there are some YouTube videos of it which I will look forward to seeing.

Finally, Merle and I went into a little shop where a lady had made table cloths, towels, placemats, etc., and I bought myself an apron and four placemats  that she made. Very special to buy things from the person who created them. And Gabbio is full of shops like that.

Our bus then took us to the town of Spoleto where we will stay until Thursday. We are staying at a cute little hotel, which is very quiet. Love it!

I was feeling my best today and I’m sure that contributed to why I had such a good day.😍 

Mar 22 Sat— last day in Siena

 There have been a number of issues with this hotel ( NH Siena).  For one thing the rooms are ridiculously hot and we have no way to cool them. In addition, most people’s safes don’t work including mine.  And I believe 100 Euros were taken from my suitcase. I’m feeling thoroughly jinxed on this trip. Grrrr…  

Today we visited 2 villages —Gargonza Castle and Cortona. At Gargonza our guide was the owner of the property. It has been handed down to him through generations. He is actually a count.  They run  it as a hotel now with just a small number of rooms. Their renovations have been beautiful and it was a lovely visit. We had lunch there in a restaurant on the property, which was superb! Very classy.

Cortona was the location for Under the Tuscan Sun— the village & the villa in the book/ movie.  Our guide said that crowds of tourists come looking for the locations and for the villa.

Unfortunately we were NOT under the Tuscan sun today but rather clouds& drizzle. It was freezing! 

Because we were so cold, it really detracted from our visit, unfortunately. But it is hard to complain because otherwise we have not been rained on and this time of year we are avoiding the huge number of tourists of other months.

We returned to our hotel for dinner and our last night in Siena. We will be leaving Tuscany tomorrow and heading for Umbria.

Mar 21 Siena & villages

 Volterra & San Gimignano were the two villages we visited today. In Volterra, our guide was an American who has lived here for nearly 30 years. This was one guide we had no trouble understanding! She did an excellent job and gave us just the right amount of information. Each village has a great deal of similarity and yet they each have some history that make them unique. The story that was interesting in Volterra was about protecting the walled city in medieval times from a siege. Their solution was to pull up the street cobblestones and fill the entryway with stones. In this case it worked! The village is known for alabaster so we watched an artisan making alabaster figurines. Very interesting.He created a very small vase and I bought one just like it in the gift shop. A nice souvenir.

In San Gimignano our guide was a most colorful actor. This village is known for its towers. The wealthy residents would build a tower to demonstrate their wealth and power. Gee that that sounds like someone in the US today. Originally there were over 70 towers and now about 14 remain.

in addition, we visited a winery. The wine of this region is white, which is unusual because most in Tuscany are red. 

This post is incomplete because Merle has some pictures I will add.

March 19 Siena

 Today was a walking tour with a local guide. A charming city although hills made it a bit of a challenge to walk. The guide mentioned at some point that he taught at Dartmouth University so that was impressive. He gave us a little too much information about each place we visited but that is not unusual for many guides & professors.  😉Merle’s comment to me was — it’s good to tell  us things you know, but not everything you know. 😆

We had free time in the afternoon and evening, which was especially good for the people who just flew in yesterday. But we didn’t mind the break either.

Merle took the pictures today.  I’ve added some from the Saint Catherine Cathedral, which was really lovely and the street scenes.

Mar 18 Florence to Siena

 Today was our day to move to Siena to join the group. We were happy to get out of Florence for one reason and that was the crowding! We just both aren’t accustomed to hordes of people on the streets. And we’re still amazed that this is high season already. It didn’t take but a couple of minutes outside of Florence to feel that we were in the Tuscany country. The taxi drive to Siena was just over an hour so that was easy.

We met up with our Italian guide and our group. It’s very nice that the group is only 18 this time! I’ve never been with a group that small. They were very friendly people and I think it will be a congenial group.

Nice hotel( NH Siena) and comfortable rooms. Looking good!  

Mar. 17 Florence Evening

Pix—Me at the police station. Me at the museum. Roman amphitheater. Artifacts in the museum—Several centuries BC. And finally —inside our hotel. 

 Fortunately, our trip took a turn for the better today! I got my wallet back from the man who found it. He said he was walking his dog last evening and the dog went around the corner into sort of an alley. It was there that he found it. If the dog had not turned down that street, he would not have found it.Dog karma!  Good thing I have always treated them well. Joe Would not take any  thank you money which I offered. He said that that’s not how his parents raised him. Quite a gentleman. The street where it was found was very close to the restaurant where we ate last night.

We had read that museums were closed on Monday, but for some reason, Merle thought that l’académie was open. We walked there, quite a walk, only to find out it was closed. So we then jumped in a taxi to go up to Fiesole which has panoramic views of all of Florence. We were delighted to discover that the archaeological ruins there (from the Romans and before )were open on Monday as well as an archaeological museum with things interesting found in the area. Absolutely fascinating! I will include a few pictures.

We had lunch at the café Teatro which Jackie had recommended but I actually didn’t remember that when we picked it. I just went because theater was in the name!  We also had gelato at a place that Jackie also recommended. Gracie Jackie!

The taxi getting there was not cheap so we decided to try the bus to go back. It was another part of the adventure. And when we got back to Florence, I stopped at the police station to give them an update: my passport had been returned to me. I could not believe how long it took for them to write up that second report. But it was good that I did it. 

We had a lovely dinner, not far from the hotel at trattoria lamadia and had wonderful eggplant Parmesan! Yummy!

So all is well that ends well. So relieved to have my passport back.

Mon Mar 17 Florence morning

 Merle and I arrived yesterday afternoon within 30 minutes of each other and met up at the airport. 

Took a Taxi to hotel which I  booked as hotel Russo .. but when we arrived, we found that our hotel name has reverted back to its original name and is now called Garibaldi after the original owner of the building, often called the founder of modern Italy. It is a most interesting and bizarre facility to walk around because it had been a villa and now is a hotel. Maybe I will snap some pictures later. It is on Piazza Santa Maria Novella— Great location but I knew that when I booked it because the last time I was in Florence  I stayed just down the street.

We dumped our things at the hotel and headed out for a bite of dinner. After dinner, we walked over to the Duomo, and were surprised that there were crowds of people. I did not expect it to be super busy now , but we found out it is spring break, and our hotel said it is the start of high season already! Unfortunately, jetlagged Jane was not paying attention and I had my backpack purse on my back which I should not have done. My wallet was taken. And the really scary thing:  my passport was in it. I never carry my passport with me. However, since we had just arrived, I had not taken it out yet. Crap! Almost €300 in cash, credit card, ATM card, global entry card, passport. I immediately called and canceled my credit card & ATM.   We went back to the hotel where they told me I needed to go to the police to report it. Very nice woman in hotel reception walked us over to the police station, which was an interesting experience.( reminded me of going to the Police In Montpelier with Joni!).  They took a detailed report and gave me a copy.

When I returned to the hotel, I called Joan to tell her and about a half hour later she called back to say someone found my passport! ( she was listed as my emergency contact in my passport ). She gave me the finder’s phone number and I called the man who is also a tourist. He was walking his dog ( a good sign) when he spotted my wallet. I guess the thief took the money, credit card, ATM card, and threw the rest on the ground. Lucky me! 

So now it is the next morning and I am waiting to hear from the man to coordinate where I can pick up my wallet.

Fortunately, I always carry a second credit card which was in my suitcase as well as more euros in cash. I also learned that Wells Fargo can grant me immediate access to my new ATM even though I don’t have the physical card yet. So I will have an easy way to get cash. Of course Merle can also get it for me and I can pay her back.

She was quick to remind me that I was not hurt and it is only money. I am embarrassed but I am a victim, even though I had not made a good choice at that moment.

So let the trip begin! We have Monday and Tuesday free time in Florence and tomorrow afternoon we will go to Siena to meet up with our tour group.

I may write again later tonight about my day, but I wanted to get this much recorded anyway.  

As always, please forgive any typos as I dictate these  and am often in a hurry .

Bongiorno Italy!

Headed to Italy March 15-29, 2025

Ciao, Tuscany!  My March 15-29, 2025 Road Scholar Tour:

"The Hidden Medieval Villages of Tuscany & Umbria"

Day by Day: brief itinerary:

March

16-17 free days in Florence before tour starts

18 in Siena --Actual tour begins

19 in Siena

20  visit Pienza; winery Montalcino

21 visit Volterra; San Gominano

22 visit Monte San Savino, Di Gargonza Castle, Cortona

23 visit Gubbio then go to Spoleto

24 visit Spoleto

25 visit Assisi 

26 visit Perugia

27 depart Spoleto; visit Orvieto en route to Rome

28 free day post tour (Pompeii?)

29 depart Rome