TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. — Is this Jackson Hole or Hollywood?
Two of the valley’s highest-profile residents made an appearance Thursday night at the 10th anniversary screening of documentary “Meru” at Walk Festival Hall. Harrison Ford presented Jimmy Chin with the Jackson Hole International Film Festival’s (JHIFF) True Grit Award, which honors filmmakers who “exemplify courage, determination and excellence in storytelling,” per JHIFF’s press release.
“He brings these stories back to us, these lived stories, with honesty, with beauty, with incredible honesty and power,” Ford said of Chin, according to JHIFF. “But this dude climbs like a goat and shoots like Spielberg.”
Tickets for the sold-out screening, part of Grand Teton Music Festival’s summer season, ran for $30 a pop. Chin gave a Q&A after the screening.
“For me, storytelling through film transforms raw experience, the weight of risk, the quiet of resilience, that sense of awe, into something visceral that others can share,” Chin said, according to JHIFF. “That bridge between lived moments and shared understanding is what drives my work.”
