Go behind the velvet rope with senior Kate Myers, as she navigate screenings, filmmaker encounters, and industry conversations at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium.
Over Labor Day weekend, the Telluride Film Festival transformed a quiet mountain town into a cinephile’s paradise. As one of 50 students chosen from around the world for the festival’s exclusive Student Symposium, CMU School of Art senior Kate Myers (BFA ’26) spent the festival living and breathing film: screening some of this year’s most anticipated movies, joining intimate discussions with directors and actors, and exploring how different forms of storytelling can further inform her artistic practice.
Thursday, August 28
12am: After a delayed flight, airport change, and car change, I get in at midnight to Mountain Village, which is about a 10-minute gondola ride from Telluride. I’m staying with two other students I don’t know yet, so we meet up and basically go straight to sleep.
4pm-7:30pm: In the afternoon, we have our symposium orientation — getting to know everyone, talking about films, and how the program will work. We have dinner, and then we have what’s called a “staff meeting,” but it’s actually for everybody, all the volunteers, staff, and students at Telluride. It turns out to be the first of the “secret movies” we get to screen: Richard Linklater’s new film “Nouvelle Vague” about Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave. It’s a really cool way to kick things off.
Friday, August 29
2pm–4:15pm Friday starts with our first symposium, where directors, actors, and filmmakers come to talk to us and do a Q&A. Peter Sellars is very much a character and gives a really inspiring speech about why it’s important to make films in this political climate, and we also hear from Ken Burns and Ezra Edelman, who curated the festival’s guest director films.
5pm It’s raining, so we just get food and go straight to the movies. We see “The Mastermind” with Josh O’Connor, then “Pillion,” a gay BDSM rom-com with Alexander Skarsgård and the actor who played Dudley in “Harry Potter.”
Saturday, August 30
7:30am We’re only sleeping four or five hours a night, because we’re watching so many movies. We start with breakfast discussions — coffee, bagels, and talking in small groups about the films we’ve seen.
9:15am Our first movie of the day is “A Private Life,” a French film with Jodie Foster speaking only French, which I’m very excited about.
12pm–12:45pm We have a symposium with Kelly Reichardt and Josh O’Connor, the director and star of “The Mastermind” we saw yesterday. We get to ask them about the film and what it was like making it. Kelly has a lot of really interesting things to say about film and its place in the arts.
8:45pm Tonight’s “secret movie” is “All That’s Left of You” by a Palestinian filmmaker, following three generations of Palestinians living on the West Bank from the 1940s up to now. It’s phenomenal and definitely a highlight of the festival for me. I have a headache from crying so hard.
Sunday, August 31
9:15am “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You” is another highlight. It’s put out by A24, kind of a thriller, very weird, and metaphorical. We have a private Q&A with director Mary Bronstein, who’s amazing and really into practical effects, which I’m also really into.
12:45pm We take the gondola up to the Chuck Jones Theater for “The Secret Agent,” a Brazilian film about authoritarianism in the 1970s, following a guy who’s being tracked down.
4:45pm–6:15pm Today’s symposium is with Jodie Foster and the director of “A Private Life,” Rachel Zlotowski. I get to talk to Jodie Foster, which is a dream come true.
7:30pm We see “Cover-Up,” a documentary about Seymour Hersh, the investigative journalist who discovered the Pinkerton massacre and Abu Ghraib. He’s here in person, along with one of his family members, who’s wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates hat. I talk to him about the Pirates.
Monday, September 1
7:45am We have breakfast and a talk with Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was jailed for making subversive films. We see his newest movie, “It Was Just an Accident,” which is funny, upsetting, and perfectly made.
6pm This is the first time we get to pick what movie we want to see. I go with friends to see “Begonia” with Emma Stone. We’ve seen a lot of heavy films, so this time I want just a weird, silly one.
After hours We go out in town to have drinks and just hang out. I get to say hi to Ari Aster at the bar, and we see Josh O’Connor and Kelly Reichardt sitting on a bench. We’re like, “Hey, guys,” and they’re like, “Oh, hey, how are you?” It’s kind of the vibe here. Everyone’s approachable — no paparazzi, no red carpets, just people going to see movies.