Mikey Kavalus, an avid world traveler, and three of his friends recently launched a travel film festival. Their new Nomading Film Festival is aimed directly at regular travelers like you and me–not necessarily professional filmmakers.
Brooklyn, New York will be home to the film festival on June 17 and 18, 2011.
The fledgling film festival’s slogan is “Engage. Explore. Record.” Rather than looking at travel as merely a leisurely activity, the festival creators see it as the opportunity to explore the planet and engage with people. This festival strives to give traveler lovers a great platform for sharing their stories.
Here’s what else Mikey says about why they created this festival:
Traveling has shaped each of us (as I’m sure it has you), especially during those moments when we are out of our comfort zone and totally insignificant in the local culture and moment, and we wanted a way to unite travelers to celebrate the art of traveling and to connect with like-minded people. In this day and age, our mobile phones can record moving images and sometimes some of the best travel stories are recorded by non-filmmakers, so our message is that if you have a video story to share, come one, come all. In travel we trust.
Submission information (submit here)
- Films can be up to 15 minutes.
- The submission fee is only $10 if you submit by January 31. The fee goes up to $20 starting on February 1 and will remain there through April 30.
- You can be from any country and the film can be made in any country.
- You can shoot the film with anything that records video.
What they’re looking for
We are looking for authentic non-fictional travel experiences. We don’t want you trying to film Rob Roy. You can film vistas, animals, weird people, yourself, locals, tourists and anything and everything else. The point is to engage and explore in whatever manner you so choose. When you leave your comfort zone and you get the camera rolling, amazing thing tend to happen.
The prizes
The audience attending the festival do the voting–no panel of uppity judges. The grand prize winner will receive two spots on a trip to Egypt with Intrepid Travel. Category winners will win travel items such as flights, gear, and more (no details yet).
The categories
1) The trip I wish I was on
2) The trip I’m glad I wasn’t on
3) The nomad(s) I want to travel with
4) The most enlightening trip
5) Simply put, that trip makes me want to travel, now!
SUBMIT your film now!
Find them on Twitter @NoFFnyc
photo credit: Mecookie
Will you submit something to the festival?
