Sorry, have to chime in here. The National Paddling Film Festival is a grass roots level effort started in 1983 by the Bluegrass Wildwater Association. They have the best annual 2 day event in Frankfort, KY in late February, with a guest host (this year Benny Marr) giving a presentation, and centralized networking of paddlers that attend from all over the world. The judging is done by professional kayakers, filmmakers, and enthusiasts, not members of a corporate media conglomerate. The real paddling film festival was the first, and still the best, so good that in many ways it has been plagiarized horribly by Rapid Media. The bias that Reel does not have is amateur video that is not only allowed to be entered, but encouraged. Have to start somewhere, right? It also deserves mention that the proceeds from NPFF support AW.
The Reel Paddling Film Festival contains the same great professional films made by the same great videographers and paddlers, the definition between sometimes fuzzy. The films are definitely worth seeing. I feel there should be some judgement supporting local efforts towards where and how to see them. NPFF also has a road show, and it has been suggested to the Alpine Shop before. It is much, much less expensive and contains a library that Rapid Media could not possibly emulate, built up from over 30 years.
Thanks,
Bill
http://www.bluegrasswildwater.org/NPFF/
