Audience Awards is incredibly excited to announce that we’ve selected our jury for the Adventure Shorts Film Festival – our panel includes some of the best minds in both adventure filmmaking and actual adventuring.
Ben ‘Sturge’ Sturgulewski grew up on a rugged and remote island in Alaska’s Aleutian Chain, which inspired him to live a life dedicated to the exploration of the world’s wild side, and the people who call it home. As a director, editor, and writer, he’s worked in some of the most strenuous filming conditions around the world, which has granted him a unique perspective to the world of action, narrative, and commercial filmmaking.
Benedict Allen may best be known for his arduous and treacherous exploits into remote communities without the assistance of a TV crew. He has previously placed himself entirely at the hands and graces of populations of remote communities, learning to survive from them alone. By single-handedly capturing his experiences on film, Benedict has broken ground in providing a more authentic level of television programming. In 2013 Benedict was included in the Daily Telegraph’s list of Britain’s “Great Explorers” – the only other living adventurer being Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Benedict has also produced various works for the BBC, History Channel and Channel Five.
Michael Brown has excelled as both an adventurer, an athlete, and a filmmaker. As a filmmaker, Michael has won three national Emmy Awards, the International Alliance for Mountain Film’s Grand Prix, and various other accolades for his work in adventure and outdoor filmmaking. As an adventurer, he has seen the summit of Mt. Everest fives times, each time with a camera in hand. Michael’s career has been oriented around exploring the world’s most challenging environments in order to capture rare footage and tell compelling stories, so much so that Men’s Journal referred to him as “a master of gut-dropping action.”
