I am awakened this morning to a view of snowcapped peaks, the sun finally emerging after the normally erratic mountain weather. Sadly, we go home today. My daughter Talula returns to school and I return to work.

It’s been a wonderful few days at Mountain Film in Telluride, Colorado, a festival where THE FARM: TEN DOWN had its premiere. And while the festival focuses mostly on the environment with this year’s emphasis on ‘food’, there’s an open and mindful spirit here such that all ideas are embraced as part of a bigger look at global issues.

The film played beautifully, and the biggest treat was having Ashanti Witherspoon there (and his wife Susan). Not surprisingly, he’s the one everyone is hungry to hear from… and this is as it should be. Bottom line is Ashanti spent almost 30 years behind bars. I simply came to tell his story. When given the chance most people want to meet the person who has lived the story rather then the storyteller. Primary experience rules…..

Talula declared upon watching my film that it was the best one at the festival. This wasn’t surprising since we didn’t see any other films (a lot of time going up the gondola, visiting the water falls, hanging out in town, rock climbing). What was amazing is that she actually managed to watch it from start to finish and had good questions to boot. For example, she wanted to know if while in prison, a man can go from bad to good, and what was it that made them go from good to bad in the first place. No easy answers to that one.

I personally remain convinced that while the majority of people in prison have done bad things, relatively few are actually bad people. When immersed in a positive environment people will exhibit positive behavior and the reverse holds true as well. I remember a young man who was in a film I did many years ago, HARLEM DIARIES. Teenager Cass Calonzo (an immigrant from the Congo who was at Rikers when I met him) said to me that when he looked out his door there were junkies and drug dealers on every corner and that if he did nothing but hang out in front of his home he’d get in trouble. To do well he had to travel by subway. Simply put, it was a hell of a lot easier to do bad than do good. (Side note is that he was eventually deported back to Africa, where he had lived only until 5, but returned years later to Canada where had been living a successful life ever since).

A true confession is that while making THE FARM: TEN DOWN (and before I even started) I was anxious that it not be simply a ‘dvd’ but stand on its own as a valid film. No doubt, my nervousness was compounded by the success of the original film THE FARM which was an almost perfect project in all aspects. And let’s face it, sequels are troubling and challenging. They usually fail to satisfy. I don’t claim that this film works as well as the first one, but it is its own phenomenon. The ten year journey, including the release of Ashanti and the Bishop, is amazing content. In the end, if THE FARM’s central theme was ‘to err is human, to forgive Divine’ than this film provides an opportunity to witness the value of forgiveness over time.

No doubt that Ashanti and Bishop have much to offer all of us. Here in Telluride, that leg of the journey has begun.