The
Rural Route Film Festival has been created to highlight works
that deal with rural people and places. While the term "rural"
is defined by Webster's Dictionary as: 1) Of or relating to
the country: RUSTIC 2) Of or relating to people who live in
the
country 3) Of or relating to farming: AGRICULTURAL, the creators
of Rural Route Film Festival leave it up to you, the film and
video artists, to explain your own definition of "rural."
Whether it be a documentary about an organic turnip farm in West
Virginia, a fictional backpacking drama set in Peru, or a personal/experimental
work about life in a small town in Wisconsin, we want to see
and hear what you have to say. Works that include alternative
country,
country western, and folk music are encouraged, as are those
that play loud rock in cornfields.
Rural Route Trailer
Best of Rural Route DVD Now Available!
13 of the very best films from the first 5 years of the Rural Route Film Festival are now available on this Collector's Edition DVD!
Hand-picked through five solid years of Rural Route programming by a jury comprised of key RR staff and New York area professionals,
this DVD showcases farms, deserts, snow-capped mountains, the Appalachian South, the Midwest, the Wild West, Siberia, Canada, and the Argentine desert.
Rural Route presents the sad and funny stories of a toy cowboy, a dental farmer, a bear hunter, Oxycontin addicts, riding lawnmower racers, dancing tractors,
and more! Click here for ordering instructions.
Rural Route has an ambitious new plan for 2008-2009. We are calling this season, “Nomad,”
because it involves roaming through the ends of the Earth for a full year, screening our
programming and collecting rural stories in a travelogue-style documentary. The “Nomad”
tour is set to kick-off in October 2008, following a New York City festival in which Rural
Route will collaborate with local and international partners to screen a plethora of rural
shorts and features, and launch a brand new “Best of” DVD (subtitled in Spanish and French)
that will be a long-term staple of the festival.
NOMAD TOUR (Screenings)
Rural Route Director Alan Webber will be playing the part of the Nomad, traveling consistently for an entire
year with a backpack, video camera, mini-projector, and stack of DVDs. Webber will stay in hostels, camp,
and accept friendly invitations of lodging. He will be joined by several Rural Route volunteers for stints
along the way. Variables and spontaneity are being factored in, but the general plan is to start off riding
buses around South America (and taking boats across the Amazon and down to Antarctica) with definite screenings
in Chile, Peru, and Argentina. Throughout the voyage, the films will be screened at universities, film centers,
art spaces, and theaters. Webber will also set-up several “Rural Extreme” screenings in places such as jungles,
villages, and on icebergs. The tour continues from South America to Oceania with screenings amidst the beauty
of New Zealand and Australia. Rural Route then flies into India, making a Nomadic path through the Himalayas
(w/a screening in Kathmandu, Nepal), into Tibet and across China to Beijing. From there, it’s down to South
Africa for safari and screenings planned with African diaspora film group, Image Nation, in the townships of
Johannesburg. The tour rounds out with screenings throughout Europe, and side treks into the Middle East and
Western Africa.
NOMAD BLOG/VLOG
Webber will keep an ongoing public blog on the Rural Route website, detailing his travels, the Rural Route
screenings and the people he encounters. Video (vlog) clips will be uploaded whenever possible to supplement
Webber’s writing. A world map will also be featured alongside the blog on the Rural Route website with lines
marking the Nomad’s progress. Mass emails will be delivered every few weeks, summarizing the Nomad blog to the
Rural Route mailing list.
NOMAD DOCUMENTARY
While screening rural films in venues around the world, Rural Route will be documenting its travels on video
to be put together in a comprehensive film and for use with the Rural Route blog and website. The documentary
is at the core of Rural Route’s mission of bringing together and highlighting diverse rural voices from around
the globe. We will look for stories from contemporary farmers, villagers, indigenous people, fellow vagabond
travelers, and urban transplants who are adapting to new ways of life.
The
Rural Route Film Festival has been created to highlight works
that deal with rural people and places. While the term "rural"
is defined by Webster's Dictionary as: 1) Of or relating to
the country: RUSTIC 2) Of or relating to people who live in
the
country 3) Of or relating to farming: AGRICULTURAL, the creators
of Rural Route Film Festival leave it up to you, the film and
video artists, to explain your own definition of "rural."
Whether it be a documentary about an organic turnip farm in West
Virginia, a fictional backpacking drama set in Peru, or a personal/experimental
work about life in a small town in Wisconsin, we want to see
and hear what you have to say. Works that include alternative
country,
country western, and folk music are encouraged, as are those
that play loud rock in cornfields.
