From the Director
Director’s Statement
Making Rings of Time has been an epic journey. Technically I’ve been working on the film for almost two years, but it’s more accurate to say that I’ve been working on it my whole life. My older brother is a banjo player who has been involved with the Telluride Bluegrass Festival every year for over forty years. While I’m not a musician, I’ve been surrounded by bluegrass music, community, and the ethos of festival-going ever since I was a baby.
“Telluride,” as the festival is known to many people, was a mythical, magic place that I only heard stories about as a kid. It was spoken of in hushed tones, as a site of musical adventurousness, peak experiences, and incredible beauty. When I finally made it to the festival, I realized that it was undersold to me. People talk of attending Telluride as a life-changing experience, and I instantly understood why. It has something to do with the collision of incredible, boundary-pushing music, a stunning natural environment, and fellow travelers mingling together in a box canyon in the sky.
When I was asked to make a film about the festival, I knew that it would become personal. Many of the musicians who are integrally involved, such as mandolin legend Sam Bush, I had known since I was six years old. What I didn’t realize is just HOW personal it would become.
Diving into this film, I had fifty years of stunning performances to choose from, but I knew it would only work if I found a story and themes that were relatable to, well, everyone — from roots music-obsessives to bluegrass-haters. As I interviewed both the legends of the festival and the cutting-edge contemporary musicians who love and revere it, a thread started to emerge. This was a story about growing up. About a festival growing up, about musicians and audiences growing up, about the joy and grief that are a part of life for those of us lucky enough to grow older in this challenging world. The story of the festival producer, Craig Ferguson, and the high highs and low lows of his life, gave me a framework.
But I also realized why music festivals — and this festival in particular — are so important at this moment in time. In a world that is increasingly lived on screens and away from other people, Telluride provides a reminder of the connection that is possible between people, through music, through community, through art, and ultimately, through the act of telling stories. We need to be together. It’s the only way we’re going to get through. And Telluride shows us a way.
— Sascha Paladino, Director
About Sascha
Sascha Paladino grew up getting muddy at bluegrass festivals. He is a filmmaker, writer, and creator of children’s television. His films include Throw Down Your Heart, about the American banjo player Béla Fleck’s musical adventures in Africa. It won the Audience Award at SXSW and many other prizes worldwide. He has made films about Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, the Nashville Symphony, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, and a visual artist who only creates art while riding the New York City subway system.
As a multiple Emmy-nominated writer and producer, Sascha created the intergalactic animated adventure series Miles From Tomorrowland for Disney and was showrunner/executive producer of Disney’s animated Bollywood musical Mira, Royal Detective. He’s been a writer, head writer, and producer on series including Doc McStuffins, Blue’s Clues, Paw Patrol, Wonder Pets, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and many more. Sascha has written the lyrics to hundreds of songs for these shows, and has developed projects for the Jim Henson Company, Nickelodeon, the BBC, Scholastic, and Penguin Books.
A passionate advocate of arts education, Sascha has taught arts workshops in many public schools, private schools, and prisons. He thinks you should go to a bluegrass festival as soon as possible.