About NTFF2010
Below is a Q&A between Jennifer at ILovetheBurg.com and NTFF Festival Director, Christine Scott.
What inspired you to host it?
Nomadic Tendencies Film Festival is the roaming arm of the Strasbourg International Film Festival which is underway (Aug 20-29) and in its 3rd year. Nomadic Tendencies came about as a direct result of the festival’s tendency to be a bit nomadic. We show films in various venues often based on the films genre and style rather than expecting all films to be work best in the same location.
I am the Festival Director of both SiFF and NTFF. The festivals come about because average people like you and me have the right to see films that we simply don’t have access to seeing. I wanted to change that. I what to know what other independent voices around the world are saying, what their stories are, what they think, what their culture is like. I should have that right, that access… if their film has been made. Once I realized these stories were being told but not shared I wanted to help bring these voices to more communities. Our festival focuses on truly independent voices which means they usually don’t have government funding or studio backing. Often such voices are watered down to appease the masses or the powers that be. We’re not that kind of festival. We want to share original thoughts, art and ideas created in the medium of film to the masses. I am inspired to bring independent thought and voices to the forefront. I don’t think there are enough individual voices that are able to be shared and heard. It is my personal goal to increase these numbers. The mission of the festival is to build a bring between independent film and its audience.
What films will be shown?
Over 140 independent and international films will screen from around the world of varying lengths and genres. The only requirement we have for submission is that the work be good. Our goal is to bring good indie films to the public and allow people to fall in love with what is rightfully theirs… quality viewing opportunities. People are turned off by a lot of what’s out there and rightfully so. Most of it is junk, not stimulating and bland to appease the masses or no one at all. We appreciate films that are stimulating. This doesn’t mean we’re high brow. We’ll go there but we’re also raunchy, wicked, fun, light-hearted, simple, tasteless, cultured, educational, informative and enjoyable. We don’t expect everyone to like everything. We do hope that with the genre of films that a person enjoys we’re bringing them quality filmmaking. It is important to respect an audience member’s time. Time is valuable. We hope the films that have been shown – whether a mainstream lighthearted comedy, musically-inclined experimental documentary or a psychological thriller – will help audience members to fall in love with indie films.
At what venues?
We’ve got 6 fantastic and diverse venues (7 really, but I add Meek on the Prowl as an extention of the ArtOn Central! venue since the two deserve to be more of a combined venue rather than treated as separate entities.
1. Muvico Baywalk 20 – Downtown St Petersburg – for our more mainstream selection, several of our documentaries, most of our shorts, and home of our 7 panels! Many independent films, although made on a shoestring, are very mainstream and fit quite nicely in a traditional general audience movie theater environment.
2. Beach Theatre - St Pete Beach – mainstream, documentaries and edgier, gritty films. Arthouses are an integral part of any film and art community.
3. USF St. Petersburg, Campus Activities Center - Downtown St Petersburg – films we feel will play well to a college crowd, that being said, this venue is free and open to the community – all are welcome to attend – we have created a partnership with USF St. Petersburg which will allow us to bring a months film series to the campus. We are pleased and delighted to join USF in its goal of further embracing and reaching out to the community on a cultural level. The line-up is scheduled through April 2010
4. The Dali Museum – Downtown St Petersburg – for a surreal film exhibition. NTFF and the Dali have teamed up to bring a line-up of surreal films to the Dali on a monthly basis. Surreal films are hard to come by and an important aspect of any arts community. We are honored to have established this relationship.
5. Blueberry Patch – Gulfport – films of an organic nature whether fiction or not… meaning more homespun but not necessarily an activist or poltical film. Sweet films about nothing are just as valuable as films about a cause. There will be a potluck before the film!
6a. ArtOn! Central - 600 Block of Downtown St Petersburg – for our most experimental, artistically-inclined, abstract and avant-garde films that deserve to be screened in an artistic environment and/or completely out-of-the-box. I’m so excited about this venue. Finding the right place to screen art and experimental films can be an incredibly difficult task. We are so pleased with this venue for this group of films on many levels. These films are art. They need to be treated and respected as such. Therefore they need to be presented in a vital, exciting alternative exhibition space that lends itself to free-thinking alternative directions. ArtOn! Central would seem to be a perfectly matched venue or this need. This venue will screen films on Sat. Sept 3, Wed. Sept 8th and Sat. Sept 11. Event will start at approximately 5:30pm and continue until approximately 7:45 pm at which time people will gather out front for David Meek’s guerilla-styled exhibition of Meek on the Prowl.
6b. Meek on the Prowl – starts at ArtOn! Central then travels to 7 or 8 different ‘found’ venues around Downtown St Pete over an hour-and-a-half or two hours period. This is an experiment that I’m completely in love with. I walked into David Meek’s studio and saw that he had done some outdoor projection art and realized that he could potentially be the perfect exhibitor for some of our very experimental and pure art films. After proposing the idea to him the venue and exhibitor were married and the rest is history. This event will take place over three days directly following the screenings at ArtOn! Central. The films presented in this series will range from 2-15 mins in length. All of these films will be screened outdoors, guerilla-style. This is an incredible opportunity to experience art films in a completely different setting.
What do you hope to accomplish with the festival?
I hope to bring quality independent films from around the world to the St Petersburg area and I hope people will fall in love with them. For me, this would be the ultimate accomplishment.
Any other info you’d like people to know.
Information about our films, venues, events and panels can be found at Nomadic-Tendencies.com.
Several filmmakers will be in attendance.
Dates: Friday, Sept 3 thru Sunday, Sept 12
Email: info@nomadic-tendencies.com
Phone: 727-280-3806 or 352-942-4803
Website: Nomadic-Tendencies.com
Is this a ticketed event? Perhaps we can give away some free tickets?
USF, ArtOn! Central, Meek on the Prowl, and the Blueberry Patch are all free events.
For entry to the screening at the Dali Museum a museum ticket, membership or film festival pass is necessary.
There is a charge for films at both Muvico Baywalk 20 and the Beach Theatre.
We would be happy to offer 2 free 10-Day All-Access Festival Passes for you to give away! Would the giveaway be part of a contest? That could be fun! Don’t know how you do such things…
