MELVILLE, N.Y., May 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BZ Media LLC announced today the opening of the InterDrone Film Festival, giving aerial cinematographers a stage where they can show their best footage shot by a UAV, at InterDrone, the International Drone Conference and Exposition being held September 9-10-11 at The Rio in Las Vegas. The celebration of finalists and winners will happen Wednesday evening, September 9, during a reception at InterDrone.
Nine judges will use their expertise in aerial cinematography to determine the best video captured with a drone in six categories: Natural Wonders, Cityscapes and Architecture, Action Sports, Acrobatics/Technical Skill, Storytelling and Reel. The festival includes a People's Choice Award in each category plus an overall Best in Show, which carries a Grand Prize of $2,000 or equivalent drone.
Winners in each category will also receive $500 and a free All-Access Pass to InterDrone. Runner-Ups in each category receive $200 and a free All-Access Pass to InterDrone, and the People's Choice will receive $500. Finalists get a free pass to the Film Festival Reception and Expo Hall and a 30% discount on the All-Access Conference Pass.
The impressive lineup of judges includes Randy Braun of DJI, Eric Dupin of Dronestagram, Jeff Foster of PixelPainter, Ron Futrell of AeroJournalism, Bob Gonsalves of the United States Association of Unmanned Aerial Videographers (UAVUS), Colin Guinn of 3D Robotics, Tom Hallman of Pictorvision Inc., Dave and Sarah Oneal of That Drone Show, and Preston Ryon of Snaproll Media.
"InterDrone is shaping up to be the most important commercial drone conference and expo in 2015. I am thrilled to meet all these people and professionals involved in drone activities, R&D, and to discover new gear and new technologies. I also can't wait to participate as part of the drone film festival jury," said Dupin, founder of Dronestagram.
Entries for the festival will need to be in no later than Friday, July 10, and the cost of entry is only $30 per film. The submission form and the full list of Rules and Terms can be found here: https://filmfreeway.com/festival/InterDroneFilmFestival.
"At That Drone Show, we bring the best stories and people together to speak about drones, and we are beyond excited to partner with InterDrone this year. We believe that this show will be a groundbreaking event that will forever be looked back upon as the start of something huge. We believe that drones are good and we want the drone community to be apart of this fantastic show, so lets wrap our arms around InterDrone and all plan to meet in Vegas this September and stand together as a community," added David Oneal, co-host of That Drone Show with Sarah Oneal.
In addition to the Film Festival, InterDrone will feature more than 100 classes, panels and keynotes in all. The program will have a two-day technical conference, DroneTechCon, for drone-building engineers and software developers, and an overlapping two-day conference, Drone Flyer, for the buyers and flyers of commercial drones. There is also Drone Business for finding out the best market opportunities and a special Precision Agriculture track. This will be combined with an exposition showcasing 80+ exhibitors expected to display their latest products and technology. More than 40 sessions and 50 speakers have been posted already.
"InterDrone™ will be the largest commercial drone conference and expo in North America this year, reaching every constituency in this red-hot market," said Ted Bahr, Chairman of InterDrone. "More than 115 media and association partners on five continents are helping to drive awareness of InterDrone and building it into the premier 'Big Tent' commercial drone event in this country."
Chris Anderson, New York Times best-selling author, CEO of 3D Robotics, and founder of DIY Drones will deliver the Grand Keynote address at InterDrone, and more than 3,000 drone builders, flyers and buyers are expected to attend the event.
BZ Media has also partnered with the CTIA–The Wireless Association® to allow attendees going to CTIA Super Mobility 2015 to also attend InterDrone. CTIA Super Mobility 2015 badge holders gain free "expo badge" attendance for InterDrone, while InterDrone badge holders gain free "expo badge" access to CTIA Super Mobility 2015, with express shuttle bus service between the event sites running during show hours.
Both companies will also implement a whole range of coordinated sessions, displays and crossover attendance options for exhibitors and attendees from each event.
Registration for InterDrone—strictly for trade and commercial drone builders, buyers and flyers and business owners—is now open at www.InterDrone.com. The Call for Speakers will close on May 29. For information on speaking at InterDrone, contact Katie Serignese, director of conference programs, at kserignese@bzmedia.com. For information on exhibiting or event sponsorships, please contact Ted Bahr at ted@bzmedia.com or +1 631-421-4158 x101.
ABOUT BZ MEDIA
BZ Media LLC is a high-tech media company combining the best of print and Web-based publishing with industry-leading technical conferences and expositions. BZ Media publishes SD Times, the leading magazine for the software development industry; AnDevCon, the world's largest Android Developer Conference; Big Data TechCon, the how-to technical conference for IT professionals implementing Big Data; Wearables TechCon™ the largest technical conference and expo for software developers, engineers and designers of wearable computing devices; and InterDrone™, the International Drone Conference and Exposition.