Taylor Miller
Democratic voting will be a key feature of the 2014 Byron Bay Surf Festival (BBSF) Surf Shorts Film Comp, and has been designed to give film entrants – both national and international – the best opportunity to make it a fair festival win.
With entries officially opening this week, the increasingly prized key event, presented by GoPro, is expected to draw many unique and eclectic film bits from oceans afar.
Film entries will be posted up online and across major social media portals, and set loose to the world wide web to gather as many votes as deserved.
The filmmaker who gathers the most votes wins not only international accolades and great exposure, but also $1,500 in cash and $1,000 worth of the latest GoPro gear.
Other finalists are set to win themselves prizes such as film gear, latest wetsuit materials and DaFin waterman fins.
Fourth year
The BBSF is in its fourth year, having quickly grown into a well-anticipated and vibrant event here in the Bay.
Director Mike Jahn plots for points of difference; however, he hopes to set the event apart from others by keeping it as a revolving door for innovation and eclectic ideas.
Mike also wants to ensure that it is kept close to surfing ideologies such as an organic healthy lifestyle, renewable materials and sustainable systems.
Citizens of the sea
In fact, straight off the bat there are strict criteria to which surf art market participants must adhere.
Film-short entrants are also encouraged to support such ideologies and that is why this year the festival/film/art theme will be crowned ‘Citizens of the sea’.
The festival, as many witnessed last year, is a celebration of surf culture, meaning that it celebrates all manifesting elements of the surfing diaspora, known all too well in the Byron Shire. This encompasses anything from food, fashion, art, film, music, literature, design to every kind of surfing and much, much more.
The Byron Shire is increasingly respected as a major hub in the surfing world – attracting more influential surfing personalities to live and reside here than anywhere else.
For this reason, the festival is an event that has somewhat organically blossomed of its own accord, attended by a passionate mix of local and international people, surfers and non-surfers alike.
For more information visit http://surfshorts.byronbaysurffestival.com.
