MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 22, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BZ Media LLC announced today the winners of the first annual InterDrone(TM) Film Festival which took place September 9 at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas. The grand prize and a check for $2,000 for the Best Video overall went to Scott Sporleder of Matador Network for Jordan From The Air.

An impressive lineup of judges included Randy Braun of DJI, Eric Dupin of Dronestagram, Jeff Foster of The Drone Coalition, Bob Gonsalves of the United States Association of Unmanned Aerial Videographers (UAVUS), Colin Guinn of 3D Robotics, Ron Futrell of AviSight, Tom Hallman of Pictorvision Inc., Dave and Sarah Oneal of That Drone Show, and Preston Ryon of Snaproll Media.

The nine judges used their expertise in aerial cinematography to determine the best video captured with a drone in five categories, with each category winner receiving $500.

 Category                Winner                              Director         See Video at
 —————————————————————————————————-
 Action Sports       Cinedrones are Awesome   Daniell Ashby    https://vimeo.com/84938216
 Cityscapes           Jordan from the Air          Scott Sporleder  https://vimeo.com/130034654
 Natural Wonders  Beautiful Scotland            John Duncan      https://vimeo.com/100426447
 Reel                    Showreel 2014                 Mike Gisselere   https://vimeo.com/107821454
 Storytelling          Heaven                           Daniel Feighery  https://vimeo.com/117731316

“We had more than 300 submissions from 19 countries,” said Ted Bahr, Chairman of InterDrone. “The judges had a hard time selecting winners in each of the five categories as well as the winner overall.”

Hundreds of attendees voted for The People’s Choice and that award and $500 went to Chris Bonnet for Texas: An Assortment of Beauty, which may be viewed here: https://youtu.be/PilBKRz5B0c

The Film Festival reception began with the world premiere of the trailer for “The Drone Invasion,” a documentary on the benefits of commercial drones. David and Sarah Oneal from That Drone Show and world famous hypnotist and drone enthusiast Anthony Cools hosted the Film Festival reception and gave out the awards.

The InterDrone Film Festival was hosted by Film Freeway and 2016’s contest will open in mid-May, 2016. Next year, InterDrone will be held at the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from September 7-9, 2016.

For information on exhibiting or event sponsorships contact Ted Bahr at ted@bzmedia.com or 631-421-4158 x101.