Michael Kodas

I’ve been up to my ears in films and books for the last couple of weeks, and the deluge of adventurous cinema isn’t over yet. For anyone in the Hartford area this Saturday, you can join me at the Patagonia Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival at Trinity College’s Cinestudio Saturday night from 7:30 until 10:30. The event, hosted by REI, features eight films showing river adventures, water conservation efforts and biofuels.

If the films at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival are even half as captivating  as those that I caught at the Banff Film and Book Festivals last week in the Canadian Rockies, (or the ones that I had to miss at the Hartford International Film Festival while I was up north) it will be a great night. Among the favorites in Banff were Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen’s latest climbing film, The Sharp End; The Last Nomads, a film about anthropologist Ian Mackenzie’s work in the rainforest of Borneo documenting the lives of the last nomadic Penan natives; Journey to the Center, about a team of world-renowned BASE jumpers leap into Tian Keng - the Heavenly Pit in China; and Red Gold, about the battle between fishermen and conservationists trying to preserve the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs in the rivers of Bristol Bay, Alaska, and mining companies proposing to extract what may be the planets richest deposits of gold and copper, likely at the expense of the fish. But those were just a few of the dozens of films that screened in Banff this year, along with presentations by world-class climbers, photographers, and writers like Peter Habeler, Jim Donini, Michael Kennedy, Jennifer Lowe-Anker, Maria Coffee, Robert Birkby, Majka Burkhardt, Dawa Stephen Sherpa, Zeb Hogan, and Dr. Geoff Tabin. With multiple screens and stages running at the same time, I often wished I could be in two places at once.

And that was before I even considered the great films I was missing at the Hartford International Film festival, which was running the city where I live at the same time as the Banff Festival. There were a number of terrific films at HIFF, but two I will certainly track down are Trouble the Water, the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at Sundance earlier this year, and Diamonds in the Rough, about the Ugandan Hip Hop scene and its role in the country’s recovery from civil war.

But if you missed out on Banff and Hiff (boy, that’s a lot of f’s), you still have the chance to catch some terrific outdoor films when the Wild and Scenic Film Festival makes its only Connecticut stop this Saturday at Trinity College. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Contact REI at 233-2211 for more information or to purchase tickets. I hope to see you there.

Rainy Day Books, Kansas City’s most venerable bookstore, is hosting a multimedia program promoting High Crimes in Kansas City. Michael will be appearing at the RDB-sponsored event at the Unity Temple on The Plaza, 707 W. 47th St. in Kansas City, Missouri on Thursday, June 26th at 7 pm.Admission of $24.95 plus tax includes two tickets to the event as well as a hardcover copy of High Crimes from Rainy Day Books, which Michael will sign after the presentation. Please visit the Rainy Day Books website for more information.

A few weeks ago I presented the multimedia program promoting High Crimes at Google, as part of their “Authors @ Google” series. I imagine I was as entertained by my tour of the Cambridge, MA facility, with its geometric, primary-colored furniture, catered lunchroom, video games and musical instruments, as the Google employees were by my talk, photographs, and slideshow. Google has graciously put up the entirety of my presentation at YouTube.

Michael will be presenting a multimedia lecture and signing copies of High Crimes at the Borders in Farmington, CT, on May 18th at 2 PM. The Farmington Borders is just south of Westfarms Mall, at 1600 Southeast Rd./Route 71.

Russ Mitchell, anchor of the Sunday edition of the CBS Evening News, interviewed Michael Kodas last week for a segment the news program is airing Sunday, April 27th - that’s tonight.

Russ and Michael discussed Michael’s book, High Crimes, as well as the ongoing Chinese climb of Mount Everest with the Olympic torch, and how that climb is bringing new dangers to Everest. The Sunday edition of the CBS Evening News airs at 6:00 or 6:30 PM EST, depending on the area (please check your local listings), right before 60 Minutes.We hope you can catch the program. Feel free to send us your comments if you do. 

Come see Michael’s High Crimes multimedia program and get your book signed at the Borders in Simsbury, CT at 2 PM on April 20. The Borders is just off Route 44, at 500 Bushy Hill Road. You can contact Bill Dicaprio at Borders - (860) 651-7305 - for more information.

Michael will be presenting his High Crimes multimedia program at Sam Weller’s Bookstore located at 254 South Main Street in Salt Lake City at 7 pm on Thursday, March 20. You can also hear him on KCPW Public Radio from 10:10 to 11:10 Thursday morning.

Michael will give a multimedia presentation and sign books at Boulder Book Store, at 1107 Pearl Street in Boulder, CO, on Thursday, March 6 at 7:30. Listen for Michael on KGNU radio at noon on the day of his presentation.

Epilogue Book Company in historic Steamboat Springs, CO, is hosting Michael and his multimedia presentation for High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed at 7pm at the Steamboat Mountain Theater. Tickets are available at Epilogue in Steamboat and are free with purchase of the book, or $10. True adrenalin junkies can combine a viewing of Michael’s presentation with one by Majka Burkhardt, a renowned Colorado guide, who is giving a multimedia presentation for her book, Vertical Ethiopia,  on March 12th at the Steamboat Mountain Theater. Epilogue is offering admission to both of the events for $15. All proceeds will benefit Everything Outdoor Steamboat. Check out the very cool write up about High Crimes at one of Erica at Epilogue’s very favorite daily e-lists, “The Very Short List.”

I’ll be visiting the New Canaan Library to present a multimedia program about High Crimes on Sunday, Feb. 24th at 4 pm. Elm Street Books will be on hand with books. For more information contact Kathleen Millard at Elm Street Books at 203-966-4545 or email her at kathleen@elmstreetbooks.com.