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Out of the chute

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Two years plus $30,000 equals one 45-minute ski film. “I had to be pretty slim on my 16-millimeter film,” says Dana Lee Mackie of Carnelian Bay, Calif. “It costs about $100 a minute.” Mackie covered a lot of white turf -- a blizzard in Alta, Utah, and heli-ski shots in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains -- in her out-of-pocket film “Jusimi” (translation: Did ya see me?). The film is one of the offerings at the fifth annual Squaw Valley Winter Film Festival expected to draw more than 500 snow-crazed viewers Friday and Saturday to the Lake Tahoe ski resort. Low-budget “Jusimi” captures daring jumps through rock-strewn chutes, below, and skiers doing flips. (A wake- skater on Lake Tahoe offers a little relief from all the snow.) More big air and big snow -- this time in the form of backcountry snowboarding with shots from around the world -- star in “Lost in Transition” by Standard Films. The fest is more sports hype than competition, says Squaw Valley spokesman Eric Brandt. “It’s not a film festival where someone is walking away with the best film award. Here people get together and get excited about skiing and snowboarding,” says Brandt, noting this year marks the first time the fest will run two days. Selections also favor local amateurs. Case in point: “Effervescence,” made last year by a high school student and touted as having “an appeal that only an amateur, no-expectations, no-ego film can generate.” Screenings start each day at 6:30 p.m.; cost is $5; kids 12 and younger are free. Go to www.squaw.com.

-- Mary Forgione

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