A new locally-centered, environmental film festival scheduled
for spring 2015 was announced Wednesday morning. The Fast Forward Film Festival
will feature short films created by filmmakers from the Rochester and Finger
Lakes region.
The festival is an initiative of The Lost Bird Project, an
organization that aims to highlight environmental issues through art and
performance.
A call for submissions from local filmmakers — amateur to
professional — will begin Wednesday, October 8. Submissions are open to all
ages, and the juried winners will be awarded cash prizes. Select films will be
screened at The Little and Dryden Theatre on April 17 and 18, 2015.
“Fast Forward Film Festival is an incubator for innovative
thinking and artistic expression, and encourages films that tap into the local
experience and compel audiences to engage with the community while raising
environmental awareness,” said Andrew Stern, the festival’s executive director, and executive director of The Lost Bird Project.
“Embracing the short-film format, the festival challenges filmmakers to utilize
the power of visual storytelling to convey the urgency of environmental issues.”
Fast Forward will also host a “Friends of the Festival” component
that will feature more than 40 organizations offering advice, insight, and
resources to filmmakers. As an example, Festival project director Rebecca
Delany said part of the Monroe County Library System’s participation in the program
is to loan film equipment out to filmmakers, and the Rochester/Finger Lakes
Film and Video Office is available for location and crew information.
Selections for the festival will be reviewed by a panel of
jurists: Enid Cardinal, RIT’s Senior Sustainability Advisor to the President;
Deborah Dickson, two-time Academy Award nominated filmmaker; film critic Jack Garner;
and filmmaker and artist Todd McGrain.
Jurists will name winners in three categories: “Most
inspiring, compelling, and engaging;” “Most unique perspective;” and “Strongest
call to action.” Each winner will be awarded a $1000 cash prize.
There is no fee to enter, and entries must be submitted via
the Fast Forward website (FastForwardRoc.org) beginning 8 a.m. Wednesday,
October 8, through 11:59 p.m., February 27, 2015. Final selections will be
announced in early April.
RIT, Pollution Prevention Institute, The Little Theatre,
WXXI, and George Eastman House are sponsoring the film festival.
For more information and further film details, visit
FastForwardRoc.org.
This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2014.
Environmental films are critical in educating the public on our life support system because the media is so bad at this. The trick is getting the general public to attend—those who live and vote and need to thrive in a healthy environment.
More on Environmental Education in our area: http://rochesterenvironment.com/Environmen…
There is a short film festival, the Rochester International Short Film Festival, occurring at the Dryden the very next week. That international festival shows the environment through the lens of many cultures. Filmmakers from around the world attend with their short films, speak to the attendees about their films, and stay with local families in the Rochester area. Movies on a Shoestring does not charge admission (thus allowing the filmmakers to have a large audiences to see their films), nor give out monetary prizes. The festival promotes and supports the art of small film making.