National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY)

            NFFTY, the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, has been a snowballing success since its advent in 2007.  Created by Jesse Harris, Jocelyn R.C., and Kyle Seago, NFFTY began as a one-night festival into an annual artistic masterpiece that holds the title of the largest youth film festival in the world.  In 2012, the festival ran from April 26^th to April 29^th, and was host to 222 films from 30 different states and 20 different countries.  Over 200 filmmakers, accompanied by 10,000 guests and film enthusiasts were in attendance.  The party kicked off on the night of April 26^th with an opening ceremony and premier at Seattle's Cinerama Theater, followed by a gala held at the waterfront aquarium.  Six short films were premiered the first night, which impressed upon many unsuspecting guests the level of creativity and ingenuity the young film visionaries possessed.  All of the films shown were conceptualized, written, directed, and captured by individuals 22 years old or younger.
            After the festivities of the opening ceremonies had concluded, conversation with various attendees quickly made apparent the admiration and, possibly, disbelief, of the quality of the artistry of the films.  One of the six movies that premiered on April 26^th, titled En Route, struck the audience with an introductory scene containing a massive plane crash.  Metal debris, twisted and mangled, littered a blackened, scorched field on which fires blazed.  An ambulance pulled up and a lone paramedic stared in horror at the tragedy.  This scene, created using computer generated images, easily rivaled the graphic quality of many multi-million dollar box office movies.  More incredibly still, En Route was created on a Spartan budget of three-thousand dollars.  NFFTY hosted a wide spread of categories, from horror to animation, music videos, and everything in between. 

            While 2012 was NFFTY's sixth year running, it was the inaugural year for the Future Film Expo, hosted at the Seattle Center, where colleges, sponsors, and personalities from all walks of the film world attended to participate in workshops and discussion panels.

            This year, the largest festival to date, sponsors such as Bing, XBOX, and Expedia made the exceptional experience possible.  The National Film Festival for Talented Youth is a non-profit organization and relies on the donations of corporations and individuals to continue running and providing workshops and other services for young filmmakers everywhere.

            The festival's motto, “Film starts here”, without a doubt sums it up.  It is a phenomenal experience to attend, and the very future of our film industry is rooted in the brilliant young minds that present their films.  Your donations, large or small, are instrumental in the continuation of this event, so please, film fans everywhere, donate to help the NFFTY legacy continue.  No amount is too little, and every little bit helps.  You can donate here: http://www.nffty.org/donate

            Witness part of the experience with the videos below:

            “Designed Around You” 2012 Volvo Short Film winning entry: http://www.nffty.org/nffty-updates/watch-2012-volvo-short-film-contest-winner

            Winning entry for Best Music video: LA by Tim Hendrix http://vimeo.com/38096445

            Festival Recaps day by day: http://www.nffty.org/festival-highlights/watch-nffty-2012-daily-recap-videos

            Once again, donations keep the incredible NFFTY experience alive:  http://www.nffty.org/donate

Bronze Radio Return

Enter: Bronze Radio Return, a new age blast from the retro era. Turn up your hi-fi stereos for the return of that lo-fi experience that has been absent from the new music scene for far too long.

Bronze Radio Return started long before the members coalesced into the Mumford & Sons-caliber act listeners enjoy today. Frontman Chris Henderson recalls the old bronze tube radio he grew up listening to in his father's art studio. The seed of the vintage music certainly flourished with the nurturing and refining of the band's sound, which they describe as “an intersection of roots music, folk, and rock.”

When asked how they would describe their own music, Henderson responded with a very apt analogy:

“Sometimes I think about our music like the chili my mom makes. Its got all your standard ingredients:    meat, beans, and tomatoes. Those are like the roots influence in our sound. It's the heart of the music, but when everything else gets added, your taste buds sometimes forget it's even there. On top of the standard ingredients goes a bunch of various spices, mustards, and wines. To me, the spices are what each band member brings to the table. Hopefully, like my mom's chili, when it all gets put together you stop focusing on the individual ingredients and enjoy it all together as its own entity.”

Without a doubt, Bronze Radio Return offers listeners a healthy does of delicious audio chili to sweep them back to some of the most significant eras of rock and blues of this century; taking influence from artists like Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy.

Hailing from Hartford, Connecticut, the group was subject to excellent reviews from listeners. Their first album, entitled Old Time Speaker, landed them in the College Music Journal's, or CMJ's, top 200 album chart. Their hard work, both writing and touring, earned them opportunities to play with and for many distinguished individuals in the music community and out. Henderson commented on some of their best experiences to date:

“We have been fortunate enough to share the stage with some really accomplished people. A few that stand out for me would be playing for President Obama in Bridgeport, CT last year. The energy was wild and it was really cool to be that close to the president. If I were to mention another, I would say opening for Buddy Guy [an aforementioned influence for the band] was a close second. We had all listened to him growing up and were totally awestruck by his presence.”

The group has since released a second album, entitled SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE!, maintains the band's reputation for great vintage sound and eloquent song writing. The title track of their new album, introduces a percussion of foot stomps and hand claps invokes a vision of crowd participation, stomps and claps echoing through the venue while band and listener alike revel in the music.

Bronze Radio Return is a reckoning force in the upcoming annual film festival “NFFTY”. NFFTY, or the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, is the largest film festival for youths in the world. In 2012, the festival is being held in Seattle during the last week of April, and will host 222 films from 30 states and 20 countries. Along with other Audiosocket artists, Bronze Radio Return is featured prominantly, and is the featured artist in NFFTY's festival trailer, as well as a participant commercial for Volvo. Both videos can be viewed here:

Festival Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6DE0geUEj8

Volvo Spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlK66_6kytI&feature=youtu.be