Yesterday Paul shared some highlights from his experience at Telluride. Now it's Aaron's turn. Here's what I asked for and here's what he gave me.

5 favorite films:

- Jindabyne (check out my blog post about it)
- The Last King of Scotland
- Catch a Fire
- Volver
- John Ford Directs

4 interesting people:

- Peter Bogdanovich (check out the podcast of the conversation I had with him)
- Kevin MacDonald (again, another conversation, another podcast)
- Bill Pence (Telluride co-director for 33 years)
- Rolf (a really interesting Telluride volunteer and film-lover)

3 favorite spots:

- on the gondola descending the mountain into Telluride--a breathtaking view
- the trail leading from our hotel to the Brigandoon
- the Nugget Theatre (Spout was the Nugget sponsor)

2 memorable moments:

- Interviewing Peter Bogdanovich for SpoutBlog. I never expected to meet him, a consummate film lover, flimmaker, actor and film historian. The highlight of our conversation was when he said Orson Welles's "genius was a kind of rebuke to mediocrity."

- Paul and I were riding the gondola down to Telluride one night, in the dark, and the gondola stopped moving. There we were, hanging in the quiet darkness on the side of the mountain. Paul recorded a "final" entry with his recorder ("To whoever finds this compact flash card...") Then it started moving again and we made if back safely. Paul recorded the scary sounds the gondola makes as it glides along.

1 way the festival changed you:

- Mostly, I just have hope that people are still making good films--that not everything being made is designed to just make money. I saw a lot of amazing and beautiful stories. When I think back on what I saw, I am amazed at the variety and the scope and breadth of the films: The hilarity and terror of Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland; the aching beauty of the mountains and hidden rivers in Jindabyne; Penelope Cruz singing through her tears in Volver; Derek Luke standing naked in the midst of a South African field, his arms raised, guns pointed at him in Catch a Fire, and the hilarity of Jimmy Stewart recounting a humbling moment with the late great director John Ford in John Ford Directs. There are still people who actually love films. Out of that deep deep love they make wonderful and beautiful films. They know their craft and are true to the stories they want to tell.