Drive-in movies have seen a comeback this summer thanks to COVID-19 public health protocols, but the most recent films playing at Buttermilk’s drive-in theatre as part of The Meeting FilmFest have audiences dreaming of winter.
Teton Gravity Research’s newest ski film “Make Believe” has its Aspen premiere at the drive-in theatre on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. The Buttermilk big screen played Matchstick Productions’ latest ski film “Huck Yeah” last week, which featured X Games star and Aspen local Torin Yater-Wallace.
Colter Hinchliffe, another Aspen local, is featured in TGR’s “Make Believe.” He said that screening this year’s ski films at a drive-in will be a different experience, but a novel one for fans.
“It’s kind of a bummer that we can’t have the big, packed halls like we usually do, and face-to-face contact with fans and signing posters and all that,” says Hinchliffe. “But it sounds like the drive-in has been really unique and really fun … fans can still expect a fun TGR vibe. That’s a silver lining of this whole COVID thing—things are just a little different and unique.”
Hinchliffe said that along with a filming trip to Japan for the movie, Colorado’s notoriously fickle snowpack cooperated for scenes shot in the Aspen area, too.
“We ended up putting together a really cool segment from the Aspen area, so that’s really exciting for me as well to have a home town segment,” he said.
The final installment of The Meeting FilmFest will be a screening of “TransAmericana,” on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. It chronicles Aspen ultramarathoner Rickey Gates’ 2017 cross country run from South Carolina to San Francisco. Parking passes for both films can be found online.
