Most recently, Zizek collaborated with filmmaker Sophie Fiennes on The Perverts Guide to Cinema (2006), a film that offers a striking visual introduction to Zizek's ideas on subjectivity, sexuality, and the relationship between fantasy and reality. Fiennes observes that Zizek is "always inverting things and setting up unexpected relationships. It's kind of like a mind gym."

"What I love about Slavoj's way of looking at film", Fiennes says, "is that he shows how important form is. Intuitively, when you watch films, you are enjoying that idiosyncratic language. And his explicit way of reading great moments is exhilarating for me." In the film, Zizek guides viewers into a close examination of some of the most lauded and fascinating films in cinema history.

Join us at the 35th Telluride Film Festival to meet Slavoj Zizek and savor the feast of films he will bring to the Festival!

Each year we corral a small but diverse cross-section of the American college and university student population undergraduate and graduate students; film and non-film majors from across the country for an eye-opening weekend spending more waking hours than seems possible viewing, considering and discussing films. Hosted by our esteemed Symposium faculty, they interact closely with other students, and join in pointed conversations with selected filmmakers, artists and other Festival guests.

Don't miss your chance! We are actively seeking individuals for our Summer Production Apprentice work program. Each year we need ten energetic individuals who are willing to commit to a rigorous six week work schedule in Telluride starting the last week of July into September. They will learn the finer points of event production and develop the skills required to host a world-class Festival.

To be considered, an applicant must be at least 21 years old, and if not a U.S. citizen, must hold a current green card or work visa. More information about the position is included in the PDF document here.

The Telluride Film Festival salutes the success of TFF discoveries recognized by the 17th Annual Gotham Awards and nominated for the forthcoming 2008 Spirit Awards.

Inaugurating the film awards season, The Gotham Awards honored the TFF gem INTO THE WILD with Best Feature honors. The films fellow nominees in the best feature category, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, I'M NOT THERE, and THE NAMESAKE (TFF 2006), have each graced Tellurides celluloid stages. Director Craig Zobel, whose film GREAT WORLD OF SOUND rounded out the nominee list for Best Feature, and landed him a win in the Breakthrough Director category, was a 1998 TFF Student Symposium attendee. Director Mira Nair, a TFF regular attendee, received a prestigious Gotham Tribute for her influential work in the film industry. In addition, DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT, directed by Julia Loktev and featured in our 33rd Festival program, was nominated for Breakthrough Director and actress Luisa Williams received a Breakthrough Actor nomination for her work in the film.

The upcoming 2008 Spirit Awards, celebrating the best in independent film, features numerous TFF favorites as nominees, among them Julian Schnabel's THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography), Tamara Jenkins' THE SAVAGES (Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Male Lead for Philip Seymour Hoffman), Jason Reitman's JUNO (Best Feature, Best Director, Best First Screenplay, Best Female Lead for Ellen Page), Craig Zobel's GREAT WORLD OF SOUND (Best First Feature), and Todd Haynes' I'M NOT THERE (Best Feature, Best Director, Best Supporting Female for Cate Blanchett, Best Supporting Male for Marcus Carl Franklin). I'M NOT THERE will also receive the Robert Altman Award, given to one film's director, casting director and its ensemble cast. Jennifer Jason Leigh garnered a Best Supporting Female nomination for her work in MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, and Irrfan Khan's performance in THE NAMESAKE received a Best Supporting Male nomination. In the Best Foreign Film category, three of the five nominated films delighted film enthusiasts at Telluride: Cristian Mungius' 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS (Romania), Eran Kolirin's THE BAND'S VISIT (Israel) and Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi's PERSEPOLIS (France).

The Telluride Film Festival staff congratulates each of these films and artists! Well-deserved!

Any patron who met Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress at our last festival will tell you - they are funny, smart and creative guys. Their short CARMICHAEL & shane, which was featured at TFF33, was a hoot - just about as politically incorrect as can be, but with a deadpan innocence we just couldn't resist. We are proud to see that Apple, our presenting sponsor, agrees.

Rob and Alex participated last year in TFF's ongoing "Made on a Mac" series, explaining how Apple technology helped them to crank out their remarkably humorous piece in just three days, and for next to no money. Now Apple has published their story on apple.com

For all of it's success at the ceremony, however, VOLVER didn't quite edge out THE LIVES OF OTHERS (also screened at our last festival) by Florian Henckel, which was honored with the award for Best Film. We send a hearty congratulations out to all of them - well done!

The Directors of the Telluride Film Festival have revealed the program for the 33rd Festival, featuring filmmakers who have devoted their careers to bringing innovative, challenging and entertaining cinema to the screen as well as the next generation of film artists following in their footsteps.

Actress Penelope Cruz, writer-director Rolf de Heer, and legendary editor Walter Murch will be honored with Telluride Tributes, and Film historian and columnist David Thomson will receive our Special Medallion. Program includes new films by award-winning directors Kevin Macdonald, Pedro Almodovar and Todd Field.