Plum TV

Nowhere is inspiration, indomitable spirit, optimism and collaboration more present than at Mountainfilm in Telluride. Each year, the festival brings together some of the brightest minds, most progressive activists and passionate thinkers to celebrate nature, outdoor sports, human spirit and – perhaps most importantly – to figure out ways to protect our planet. Photos: Check out the Mountainfilm slideshow to see photos of this year's incredible long weekend of events, speakers, movies and mountain culture. Video: Alpinist and filmmaker David Breshears talks about Sir Edmund Hilary and global warming on MNN. Filmmaker Paul Devlin's new film, "Blast," seeks to answer one of humankind's most pressing questions, "How did we get here?" A key founder of Mountainfilm, Lito Tejada-Flores talks about the origin of the festival. "Scrapple" creators Chris Hanson, Geoff Hanson, and George Plamondon talk about their enduring Telluride film. Artist Chris Jordan's large-scale art attempts to illustrate statistics about American culture. Jeff Scher turns his joyous paintings into lovely, quirky animated movies. Two Tibetan monks living in Montrose created a sand mandala at the Ah Haa School.