If Telluride does anything, it changes the experience of movie watching. The real gold of the program is not sneak peaks at the big Oscar contenders starting the fall festival run, but films pulled from the vault of history. On a sunny Sunday morning in the mountains, I walked into a theater of movie-lovers where a live orchestra tuned their instruments. We clapped as the orchestra was introduced, the lights went down, the screen lit up and they began to play.

People on Sunday, for Germany in 1929, was like Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese, and Lucas in their early 20’s getting together and saying, “Let’s have some fun making a movie.” (People is a silent film created by Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer and Fred Zinneman, among others.) A meandering film about twenty-somethings–an actor, a dancer, a model, a mechanic–breaking from their mundane day jobs for some fun on a Sunday. It’s a celebration of leisure and the little moments that make life worth living (like an 88 year old version of Aaron Katz’ Quiet City Kevin reviewed in FilmCouch #35). I also have to share People contains the most seductive first kiss I’ve ever seen on film. No joke.

To describe Telluride’s presentation of People is like six good friends getting together for dinner, but the hosts are excellent cooks and can really set a mood. The dinner doesn’t have a beginning, middle and end to hold your attention. The entertainment is atmospheric, a combination of loving food and people you’re with so much you shut out the thought of having to leave.

I once listened to a family of Albanians who survived the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo share their story one night. After a couple hours of hearing their personal holocaust stories, the father said, “Enough of the sad stories. Their are so many of those. Time for happy story,” then he shared a funny anecdote of trying to find relief for his constipation in a refugee camp. People on Sunday is a mandate to take a break from sad stories. It’s a best of compilation for great memories. The effect it had on me was like the laser beams Care Bears would shoot from their bellies to make people happy. To get blurb friendly, Telluride’s loving presentation of People on Sunday makes it the hands down, feel good movie of last century.