Denzil Baynes of the Nordhavn 120 Aurora was the big – meaning $10,000 big – winner of the first Nordhavn Film Festival at the company’s headquarters in Dana Point, California, on Saturday night. (Baynes is the one holding the check in the picture above.) Some 200 people attended the black-tie, red-carpet, Hollywood-style event, which basically celebrated the Nordhavn culture of adventure and creativity.
The top ten finalist videos were shown at the dinner. They were chosen by a panel of judges, which included film and television industry veterans, from 18 submissions. Everyone seemed impressed by the quality of the amateur videos, all taken by Nordhavn owners or crew members. “I couldn’t imagine that the films would be this good,” said Jim Leishman, vice president of PAE, Nordhavn’s parent company.
Baynes’ winning film shows the Aurora crew first saving a dolphin and then saving some sea turtles that had been snared by lines in the ocean. Some of the filming was underwater and some was on the boat as the Aurora crew cut the lines and set the dolphin and turtles free.
The other winners:
First Runner Up: Our Nordhavn Life, by Shawn and Elizabeth Krenke.
Second Runner Up: Father to Son: A Legacy of Adventure, by Adam Paskowitz. This film also won the People’s Choice Award.
Third Runner Up: When Dreams Align, by Brooke Palmer.
You can see all the films at http://nordhavn.com/community/nordhavn-film-festival.
You can see Baynes’ winning film immediately below, and a video of the entire event below that.
