Blog posting by Kimberly Capehart, Documentary Studies and Production ’16, FLEFF Blogger, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Wake up. Get ready for the day. Walk down 4 flights of stairs. Walk past the library. Cut through Campus Center. Walk through the parking lot outside of Phillips Hall. Stop and get coffee at the Park cart. Go to class.

This is my daily routine just to get to class. In just 7 months, I’ve walked this route hundreds of times, and it’s safe to say that I could probably walk it with my eyes closed at this point (okay, maybe not with all the stairs).

How often do we get stuck in routines? How often do we neglect to let ourselves explore the environment we live in simply because we don’t need to?

In a world reduced to cell phones and computer screens, it’s more important now, than it has ever been, to break out of our shell of convenience and “comfortability” and actually explore the world that we live in. This is where Dérive app comes in.

The brainchild of Babak Fakhamzadeh, a web guru who is currently situated in Uganda, and Eduardo Cachucho, an architect living in Johannesburg, Dérive app is a web-based application that allows users to “get lost in [their] own city,” states Fakhamzadeh.

The application presents users with a series of cards that dictate a certain action. These digital cards, which are accompanied by drawings, collages, and/or pictures generated by contributors, lead the user on an unpredictable, and purely random route throughout the city, or area, of his or her choosing.

“Follow something yellow” 

“Find a fancy sports car”

“Stop for three minutes.”

The cards are simple to follow, yet interesting enough to allow for a full day exploration of a city.

“By using Dérive app, you are specifically avoiding places that everyone else is going to,” says Fakhamzadeh. It allows users to “explore the city merely for being there,” adds Cachucho, “it gets them out of their everyday experience of the city.”

In addition to tracking their dérives (the unofficial name for users’ explorations, which comes from the French verb “deriver” which means “to drift”) users also have the ability to add pictures and notes from their journey.  It’s also “a tool to record that experience and share that experience with others,” notes Fakhamzadeh.

So get out there and dedicate a day to exploration. Break out of your routine and explore your surroundings! Find a new favorite place to eat, venture down some back streets, and get lost in your own city.

I’ll be doing a dérive in Philadelphia next week; where will you explore?

Blog posting written by Shea Lynch, Documentary Production '13, FLEFF Blogger, Glens Falls, New York

Started dérives: 881
Public dérives: 740
Cards drawn: 7863
Distance recorded: 429.415 km 

Blog posting written by Shea Lynch Documentary Studies and Production ’13, FLEFF Blogger, Glens Falls, New York

Co-curator of the Distributed Microtopias Exhibition, Professor Dale Hudson has been working extensively with FLEFF since 2007, translating each season’s theme into a cohesive body of work. Partnered with Sharon Lin Tay, the duo has worked with artists from all over the world.

“In some ways, this year's exhibit responds to the techno-utopianism or cyber-utopianism of the the mid-1990s that imagined the internet as a democratic space where information and knowledge could be distributed equitably to everyone without being utterly naive or indifferent to the built-in controls of these technologies and platforms,” said Hudson.

The Distributed Microtopias Exhibit is a learning and sharing experience for the artists and the curators. This season will be an unusual one as artist Rico Aditjondro selected Null_Sets, a collaborative piece with an Ithaca alum, Evan Meaney. 

It is often challenging, said Hudson, tackling key concepts for each piece and presenting them in this “transcultural space.” 

“Each piece in the exhibition can be experienced individually, but the exhibition works even better as a whole.  Many of the pieces address similar concerns from different perspectives,” said Hudson.

Hudson also utilizes the Dérive app in exploring his own environmental spaces at the New York University of Abu Dhabi, where he teaches film and new media studies, and connecting it to the theme of FLEFF. 

“Connected to FLEFF's theme, the Dérive app facilitates research into the mobilities of urban planning that shape our experience of everyday life.  Many of the concepts behind the design of the city were derived from British colonial ideas of space transmitted through and refashioned by postcolonial Egyptian ideas of space,” said Hudson. 

Blog posting written by Erica Moriarty, Documentary Studies and Production, ’16, FLEFF Intern, Houston, Texas

Some of the biggest exchanges of ideas between people happen at film festivals. FLEFF is no exception. In fact, the exchange is international, and the movement is colossal.  

This year, FLEFF will bring in films and scholars from around the world. Fulbright Scholars from Africa, specializing in film and media as well as Kevin Lee from dGenerate films make up only a few of the international crowd coming to this year’s festival. However, the mobility of the Finger Lakes does not stop there.

There’s more than just an international movement of people. The partnership between FLEFF, the Derive App and EngageMedia make the festival move through cyberspace and into international territory in order to enhance the distribution of ideas.

During the week of April 7^th, the Finger Lakes will become mobile in sharing people, ideas, objects and even environments. This year’s theme of Mobilities is more than just a motif; it describes what will actually transpire.  

Are you ready to join FLEFF for the international movement? 

Blog posting written by Amber Thibault, Cinema and Photography '15, FLEFF Intern, Lewiston, Maine

What does the theme of mobilities mean to me?

That was the question that presented itself. As I was thinking about this year's theme, I started to think about FLEFF and all the hard work that goes into coordinating and funding such a globally significant event. Then I had an epiphany. FLEFF draws people from all our the world. It mobilizes people to come to Ithaca for one week, to share in the same experience, and then take that experience and spread it around the world. And our collaboration with this year's international partners, EngageMedia and Derive App, will only expand FLEFF's global influence even further. 

At the same time, the international scholars and filmmakers who attend FLEFF add to the local culture of Ithaca and your own cultural exploration.

So I ask you, what cultural experience are you looking for?

Blog posting written by Erica Moriarty, Documentary Studies ’16, FLEFF Intern, Houston, Texas

Hello, fellow film fest enthusiasts, and welcome to the 16^th Annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival!  

I’m so excited to get started on this year’s blogging staff! This is my first year on the staff, so I’m looking forward to… well pretty much everything. From interviews with the artists to live blogging, I cannot wait to jump in!

Before I dive deeper into the exciting things FLEFF has to offer, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Erica Moriarty all the way from Houston, Texas. Currently, I’m majoring in Documentary Studies and Production here at Ithaca College. Perhaps the most exciting part about this major is exploring the many different facets of journalism from writing to photography to film.

As always, FLEFF will be bringing some amazing films to Ithaca in April. However, there have been some new additions. The new partnership with EngageMedia, an international social justice media forum, will allow the FLEFF movement to be seen around the world.

Also new this year is the partnership between FLEFF and the Derive App. This innovative app allows you to create maps of your city in order to provide others with a different way of taking a walk. The partnership perfectly fits in with this year’s theme of Mobilities.

It’s all about the movement of people, ideas, objects and environments this year, folks! So let’s get this ball rolling. How will you get going to join the FLEFF movement? 

Blog posting written by Dorothea Hinman, Cinema and Photography, '15, FLEFF Intern, Rochester, New York. 

Greetings, FLEFF world!

I, Dorothea Hinman, am a sophomore at Ithaca College studying Cinema and Photography with a concentration in screenwriting. A theater minor is also in the works. I come from a small town outside Rochester, NY, and this is my first time on the FLEFF Blogging team! In fact, it is my first year of involvement in the festival, and I cannot wait to take the first step in my own personal FLEFF narrative. 

Speaking of movement, this year's theme is "mobilities." Not only is this theme pertinent to the films and environmental issues at the forefront of the festival, it speaks to me on a personal level. A large reason I am so excited to be involved in FLEFF is the professional opportunity it gives me. I see it as an open door into the professional world surrounding film festivals, conversation and networking. 

Beyond a personal prevalence, the theme of mobilities resurfaces in all of the aspects of this year's sixteenth annual festival. Whether this be our partnership with EngageMedia or the Dérive app, an innovative urban exploration application, or flash mobs, (coming to a food court near you!) FLEFF is about creating a movement of conversation about environmental issues in Ithaca and around the world. How will you help progress the FLEFF movement forward?