rural route film festival

rural route film festival report.

well once i got over the wrong name written down (i heard rule route)i began my research on this very unique festival. i have been waiting for a response from my email and may eventually hear back from them. however there is no contact info except for email. i pursued one of their many venues, the anthology film archive in nyc and spoke to jed. he was very helpful but could also not supply their phone numbers. anyway here is what i found out through crazy research. jm

this is a newer festival, started in 2003 by a couple of brash young men (Alan Webber and Mike Schmidt) who wanted to create a different kind of festival. through their own experience with festivals, they found their niche, the rural route film festival

their mission statement is simple, most festivals seem to lack any real personality and tend to dwell on the name of the city, etc. rural route was created with the intent of bringing country living to nyc (its main stage)

the main fest was listed as july 28 - 30 and also july 20-22 i did not find out what venue the 20-22 dates were listed but the 28-30 dates were at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave, NYC, NY
these are the listed main dates but this is also a traveling festival and here are a sample of some of the latest upcoming dates:

oct 27 2007 8:00 pm fifth avenue cinema portland oregon
nov 9 2007 7:00 pm rural route tour program silver city,new mexico@realwestcinema
nov 15 2007 7:00 pm festivalde todometrajes rurales-arica, chile @ arica
nov 16 2007 8:00 pm westfest @ alpine, texas

the submission period is now closed as the fest gears up for a best of 2008 tour but their criteria was simple: rural route accepts all films and videos that can lay claim to a ...rural theme. the primary setting for the work should be rural or within an ag-based city of 200,000 people or less. works can be completed in any year, in any country, at any length



some of the types of films

docs: agricultural themed, music, profiles, international
shorts: experimental (shannon silva film), doc, and animation
features: narrative and doc
historical: music, portrait
length: 3min to 35 min (this is just a sample, there are other lengths)
global: films from ukraine, lithuania, canada, and even sweden
sexuality: some but not major focus
race: not so much
gender: both are represented well here but not a major focus

all in all a very down home feel to this festival, which is their focus. i wish i could have talked to someone, but since this is a travelling fest, i imagine that i will be able to update more later as they become available.




jm