When: Saturday, February 26, 2005, 12 PM to 1 AM

Where: Lexington Convention Center, Lexington, KY

The NPFF started in a barn 22 years ago, received an education while held at the University of Kentucky, grew into the City Theater and now has evolved to our spacious new home here at the beautiful Lexington Convention Center. We hope the new location and program schedule will continue to be another positive step in the right direction for everyone involved – artists, volunteers, sponsors, and audience.

Each year, we continue to improve the NPFF and its focus on Paddle Sport image art and conservation of our rivers and streams. With the help of the talented film makers, resourceful volunteers and generous sponsors we are getting closer to our goal of becoming the premier film festival for Paddle Sports. The quality, diversity and sheer number of entries for both films and still image contestants was unprecedented and made it extremely difficult for the NPFF Committee to choose from over 16 hours of submitted film entries. For 2005, the NPFF Committee had to make some tough decisions to provide the latest, creative, and never-before-seen films and hopefully chosen an entertaining and balanced program of 7 amateur, 7 accomplished and 7 professional films as competitors in this year’s event.  The East Coast premier of Twitch V will also be a first for the NPFF. The films come from artists across North America, Canada, Ireland and Germany. The NPFF truly has become an international film festival.  We are thrilled again, to have so many of the film makers attending this years festival – some from as far away as Italy!  Please visit our web site for a complete listing of this year’s films.

Be sure to check out he huge NPFF silent auction in the lobby and place your bids on the large selection of paddling gear as well as other generously donated items generously donated by our sponsors.  The NPFF volunteers salute our donors and their support for river conservation throughout this festival. Please check out the NPFF web site to see the huge list of silent auction items available for bidding the day of the competition. I can tell you this; we have 4 kayaks, 1 canoe, 50 copies of Twitch V not yet released and major stash of gear!

The NPFF Best Paddling Image Competition is the strongest competition in NPFF history.  Thanks to the dozens of generous photographers who submitted their photos we have been able to raise hundreds of dollars more for the rivers.  We are privileged to see some of the most impressive padding shots ever assembled. The amazing 148 entries are now displayed on our web site (surfbwa.org/npff).  Votes will be cast on-line leading up to the event to determine the top 10 favorites.  The top 10 will then be displayed and the final votes cast the day of the festival.  Please attend and help us choose the Best Paddling Image of 2005.  By voting in the Best Paddling Image, you will have a chance to receive free gifts which will be passed out to the NPFF audience throughout the show.  There will also be a ballot in your program to use to cast a vote for your favorite video entry and determine the “Paddlers Choice – 2005.”

We are proud to have Kent Ford as our guest host. Kent’s highly acclaimed books, videos and instruction have made him one of the most recognized paddlers in whitewater sport. Kent‘s unique background includes 20 years of international whitewater racing and coaching combined with similar experience teaching recreational boating to all levels of paddlers. His 16 videos and books on Paddle Sports have influenced the education of half a million paddlers. Kent has been a frequent contributor to the NPFF for many years and we thank him for his support.  We are honored to have Kent as our special guest.

Thanks to all who support the National Paddling Film Festival we have generated a great deal of fun and FUMds for river conservation. Over the past 21 years, the NPFF has contributed to American Whitewater, American Canoe Association, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Chatooga River Conservancy, the Futaleufu River in Chili, and other conservation efforts.

Please be sure to join us for the Awards Party and ceremony immediately following the show.  We will be announcing the 2005 winners and the ceremony will be entertained by this years dynamite musical guests “Born Cross Eyed” who are generously donating their ample talent to help us all party down for the river!

The NPFF volunteers, artists, sponsors, and our rivers and streams appreciate your support and hope to see you at the show.

For more information visit: surfbwa.org/npff