The Gadabout Traveling Film Festival is an annual touring festival that screens a program of 20+ independent

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 short films

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

. Beginning in 2002, The Gadabout was started by filmmaker/musician Eric Ayotte in New Paltz, NY.

"We started this festival out of frustrations with the commercial film festival

Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...

 circuit. We wanted to create something that was DIY (do it yourself), and filmmaker focused, and more importantly, fun." - Eric Ayotte

Touring to over 50 cities every year, the Gadabout attempts to put a program together that is diverse in style, genre, and subject matter, as well as skill level. The Gadabout is deep routed in the punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

/DIY scene. Maintaining its ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

, community, and its love for the art for the art's sake.

From the Gadabout Website

The Gadabout is a nationally touring film festival that screens a program of 20+ international short films. Independent in every sense, these films share the same willingness to challenge the conventions set for filmmaking. The Gadabout is a distribution

Film distributor

A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...

 avenue for truly indie filmmakers that distrust Hollywood

Cinema of the United States

The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 and the commercial film festival circuit. We are NOT a competition, rather a celebration of what is possible in independent film and video.

Above all, the Gadabout is super cool. We tour in a van, and show amazing films to our new friends we get to meet while traveling.

We have completed 6 national tours and have screened the works of filmmakers from all over the country, and the world (India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, the U.K., and more). Independent in every sense, these films share the same willingness to challenge the conventions set for commercial filmmaking.

This is filmmaking as art, entertainment, and fun.