Texas Filmmakers Win Nikon Fest

In search of the next great online video talent, Nikon Inc. announced the winners of its Nikon Festival, launched in November to celebrate, inspire and harness the current popularity of D-SLR video creation and social media.

The Nikon Festival Judges’ Award Winner is Marko Slavnic, a 2006 graduate of the University of Texas Austin, and he will receive $100,000 and Nikon equipment to further his film career.

“So many people see filmmaking as this elite thing and that you need a big crew to produce a quality film,” said Marko Slavnic, Nikon Festival Judges’ Award Winner. “I was excited when a friend told me about the Festival, and Nikon has shown people that you don’t have to be a professional to create a film and be seen by a huge audience.”

Drawing from his own experiences as a shy teenager, Marko Slavnic’s video submission entitled “Chicken vs. Penguin” is a unique short film that shows a funny, physical story of unexpected love brought to life through a fast foodmascot rivalry between a boy and girl. It was shot over two days on Congress Street in Austin, TX. Slavnic plans to use the $100,000 to invest in his next project, which will be a feature film. He also wants to give back to his local film community who supported him, especially friend Andrew McDonald, who was instrumental in helping with his submission.

“I plan to use a Nikon D-SLR to shoot my feature film because it’s so simple,” added Slavnic. “In my experience with the Festival, Nikon’s cameras allowed me more shooting versatility, while producing mind-blowing images.”

Slavnic entered four different submissions for the Nikon Festival, including “The Hug Lady,” “One Second,” and the two top 50 finalists “Chicken vs. Penguin” and “Where Were You in ’92?”

He credits his mother as his role model, who served as a television producer in Sarajevo before their family moved to the U.S. in 1992.

The Nikon Festival Audience Award winner is San Antonio resident Joshua Friedberg. He will receive $25,000 as the top fan favorite for his video “New York State of Mind.” The video captured twenty four hours in New York, featuring renowned locations.

“I got into video through skateboarding and learned how to shoot by just doing it,” said Joshua Friedberg, Nikon Festival Audience Award Winner. “That’s part of why I think the Nikon Festival is such a great event, it motivated people to be creative and get out there and shoot.”

As a former professional skateboarder, Friedberg rallied widespread support from the skateboarding community to earn a combination of the most views and highest average rating. He credits retweets of his Festival video via Twitter by media personalities Bam Margera, Steve Berra andTony Hawk as a key to his win. Friedberg plans to use the $25,000 to help revive 411 Video Magazine that covers the skateboarding community.

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