"Currently in its 31st year, the Mountainfilm Festival is a four-day, six-senses experience of art, adventure, culture and the environment. It attracts filmmakers, photographers, conservationists, mountaineers and explorers from around the world. Our audiences also come from around the world to gather in theaters that range from historical to state-of-the-art in the box canyon of Telluride, Colorado and the gondola-linked town of Mountain Village."

Not only were there many films and shorts to enjoy, the festival also had a Moving Mountains Symposium, a gallery walk featuring various artists, breakfast talks, a reading frenzy with many authors attending to answer questions and sign their books and even an ice cream social on Main Street.

The weather was rainy and a little cold over the weekend, which was probably good for all of the films that were showing. Nice, warm weather usually tempts tourists and locals to spend an afternoon hiking or biking instead of taking in a film. I managed to get into 10 films even though I worked most of Friday and Saturday. Sunday I spent time running from film to film with hardly anytime to stop and eat. Each venue has a limited number of seating, and after those seats are taken, the rest of the people in line are turned away. The times of the shows are staggered enough that if one does miss getting into a film, chances are there is a venue nearby that still has seats available.

The films that are shown during the festival are full of people that have done extraordinary things and people making a difference in places all over the world, extreme sports and entertainment.

(See more of Lisa's photos from Mountainfilm 2009 in the attached slideshow)

Lisa Wilson is a local Telluride blogger and photographer. You can see more of her work at Mountains Rule & Telluride Daily Photo and follow her on Twitter @TellurideLisa.