Founded by filmmaker Randy Scott Slavin the one-day festival took place at the prestigious Directors Guild of America Theater in Manhattan on March 7.
It showcased only movies shot with drones intending to illustrate the many ways “drone technologies can be used for good.” And with its high-quality drone films on a theater screen, the festival was a wild ride straight on through.
A panel of four festival organizers and two independent judges selected 35 short films by artists from all over the world. Not one of them is about targeted airstrikes in the Middle East. They were divided into eight competitive categories ranging from landscape and narrative to architecture and travel, with an additional Audience Choice award voted by the audience.
Behind the Mask, the Stuttgart-based drone films production company sent seven short films to the festival. Four were accepted. And Floating, Florian Fischer and Michael Kugler’s “dronie” (it stands for a selfie made with a drone) won the Dronie award.