Robin and Kathy Beeck, founders of the Boulder International Film Festival, travel far and near to scout films for their festival -- to Toronto, where they'll be attending the Toronto Film Festival next week, and to Telluride, where they'll be over Labor Day weekend for the 35th annual Telluride Film Festival.

The Beecks will be blogging from Telluride for the Camera, letting readers know about their favorite films and what they're trying to get for next year's BIFF. Visit www.dailycamera.com/blogs to read about their adventures.

"Telluride is one of the top five film festivals in the world," Kathy Beeck said. "I don't know if there's an actual ranked list, but there's kind of a general understanding that Telluride, Toronto, Berlin, Cannes, Sundance -- those tend to be the top five."

While at the festival the Beeck sisters will be attending screenings and parties, making contact with filmmakers and trying to find movies to screen at next year's festival in February.

"One thing we do at Telluride is scout student and short films -- we can get good student and short films there," Beeck said. "Every once in a while we see a feature we think people in Boulder will love."

Last year the sisters found the student short "The Replacement Child," which screened at the 2008 BIFF. Its director, Justin Lerner, later won a student Emmy for the film.

On their blog for the Camera, the Beecks also will detail their encounters with celebrities. At past Telluride festivals they've rubbed shoulders with Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Buck Henry and Werner Herzog.

They also see stars at Toronto, Beeck said, but the vibe is totally different.

"Telluride is such a laid-back film festival. I'm sure it is a big industry festival as well, it's just not quite as apparent," she said. "Toronto is about paparazzi and glitz and glamour and flashbulbs going off; Telluride is about Daryl Hannah sitting at the hotel bar and nobody bothers her. It's very laid-back, a different tone altogether."

The Telluride Film Festival doesn't announce its schedule in advance, but past films that debuted there include "Juno," "Brokeback Mountain" and "Bowling for Columbine."