Available on the Champs-Elysées Film Festival website since this Friday 6pm, Crestone is an American documentary film. Written and directed by Marnie Ellen Hertzler, it traces the daily life of a group of friends who decided to go into exile in the middle of the Colorado desert. A group of SoundCloud rappers, friends since high school. Music, weed. Lots of weed. In this documentary film, reality and fiction will quickly become a distant memory.
A sect that is not one
Marnie has been friends with a group of boys since high school. They having gone to live in the Crestone desert to make their music, she decides to visit them. Thus begins the documentary film. Interviewing each boy in the rapper gang, Marnie collects testimonies that, without any particular context, could be akin to the promotion of a sectarian lifestyle. But she assures us that this is not the case. Looking for the right vibes and wanting only the bare necessities, this bunch of guys live on music, weed, and other highs. 
Their daily lives might seem peaceful, without constraint. They want to be in tune with nature, but it's not that easy. Running away from responsibility is not a sustainable solution and these young men will soon discover it. This documentary film shows all the facets of a life apart from society, both good and bad. We then discover at the same time that this gang of young men what it feels like to live far from everything and everyone.
No one escapes reality
Drugs and social isolation never mix. A foolproof support despite tensions, a general frustration and ambient fatigue. Through this feature film it is easy for us to feel all these emotions, to follow the ups and downs of this birth community. Despite an ideal in mind, an overly foggy mind sometimes debauchs on a painful fall. They wanted to run away from reality, but it will hit them hard. Crestone is on the one hand a good criticism of our current society, denouncing the impact of new technologies on our lifestyles. But on the other hand, it's also a reminder, insisting on our dependence on that comfort that a large part of us has become accustomed to and could not get rid of. Marnie questions herself throughout the film about the veracity of this so-called nascent community. 
Dealing with various topics such as group life and drugs, Crestone is an interesting documentary film. As much way of seeing the world as boy in the group, leading to an overflowing creativity. In addition, this documentary offers us grandiose shots, with breathtaking landscapes. Sand dunes as far as the eye can see, scorching sunsets… Enough to make the most reluctant dream. In this postcard setting, the adventures of our friends have an aftertaste of survival. A survival however punctuated by the music of this group of rappers, whose two titles mingle with sumptuous scenery. Crestone, the documentary film by Marnie Ellen Hertzler, available for free on the Champs-Elysées Film Festival website.
Crestone Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmrVFsVrgPw
