A LEGEND OF TFF PASSES
Jim Bedford passed away on Saturday, June 20th, 2026. He was 81.
Bedford, "BF" to his friends, was a giant part of the Telluride Film Festival from the very beginning listed as the Fest's Telluride "coordinator" right below the founders of the fest in the 1974 program for TFF #1.
The only reason I know that is that I have a duplicated copy of that first year's program courtesy of Mr. Bedford. I also have an original copy of every Telluride program since then, again courtesy of Mr. Bedford.
He seemed to be a fan of the blog, particularly the "history of the fest pages" that you can look at by clicking the links at the bottom of the masthead/MTFB logo at the top of this page. All of the work that I did to put that together a few years back that covers 1974-2005 comes from those programs.
Mr. Bedford and I had exchanged some emails over the years so we, weren't strangers, but I had never met him face-to-face until a couple of years ago. That came about as a result of an invitation from him for me to join in a annual meet-up held during each festival. The purpose of the meeting each year is to raise a glass to all the folks who had been a part of the TFF family, particularly on the technical side of the fest, who had passed since the previous year's fest.
I was very deeply moved that I was asked to be any part of this ceremony. I still am.
I was fortunate enough to be asked back again last year and actually got to spend some time with "BF" (He'll always be Mr. Bedford to me. Too much respect for what the man did...and that's not even mentioning the legacy of KOTO radio in Telluride). He was very encouraging about this space.
Mr. Bedford's last program credit for TFF came in 2010 with the 37th Fest.
I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest that without Jim Bedford there might not be a Telluride Film Festival.
So here's to Jim Bedford. He was kind and thoughtful and loved the SHOW.
TEN BETS FOR TFF #53: VOL. 2
Here's the first update of MTFB's Ten Bets for TFF #53' First, last week's bets:
The Black Ball
Bucking Fastard
Coward
The Debut
Fatherland
A Long Winter
Minotaur
Paper Tiger
The Story of Documentary Film
Yellow Letters
This week we add in a couple of films and move a couple to the "Other possibilities" list:
The Black Ball
Bucking Fastard
Club Kid
Coward
The Debut
Fatherland
Fjord
Minotaur
Paper Tiger
Yellow Letters
Other possibilities: A Long Winter and The Story of Documentary Film.
We'll have an updated list again next Thursday.
TRAILERS!
THE DEBUT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clyzHmBx43E
SHEEP IN THE BOX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5mlc8TAPNw
KLARA AND THE SUN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlwmEqQv82M
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2
Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social
MTFB's Facebook Page
MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays
If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com
