Festival Sayulita is a unique festival that not only embodies film, but also music, mexican spirits, and surf.
The 2015 festival featured over 60 films, Dirty Heads and KONGOS headlined musical events, featured tequila, mezcal and wines from all over Mexico, and hosted the Mexi Logfest; the largest longboard competition in Latin American with a $10,000 purse.

Website is http://www.festivalsayulita.com Dates for 2016 are tentatively January 13-17th, 2016.

Matthew Toffolo inteviews Co-Organizer Storm Richardson:

Matthew: What is the goal of your film festival?

Storm: The goal of our event is to bring in out side culture to our incredibly diverse little town of 5,000 people. At the same time, Festival Sayulita is a non-profit with the goal of building a new world class cultural center for our community.

Matthew: How has the festival changed since its inception until your upcoming 2016 festival?

Storm: We’ve been through 2 festivals so far and have seen major growth. We actually doubled the number of submissions received as well as films screened from our first year to our second. Our music selection for our second year was off the charts and we put on an amazing concert. The surf section of Festival Sayulita evolved from a community event to a major world class surf competition thatnks to our friend and neighbor Israel Preciado who brought in pro’s from all over the world.

Matthew: How many films are you showcasing at your Film Festival?

Storm: We have limited screen time in Sayulita, as we don’t have an indoor space to showcase films, so everything has to be screened outdoors at night. In 2016 we’re hoping to show about 60 films, and if we can create another venue to screen films then we will hopefully screen more.

Matthew: Can you give us a sneak peak of what to expect for the 2016 Festival?

Storm: 2016 is going to be the crucible year for our festival. The event is still in the early planning stages, but we can certainly expect the same format as 2015, with hopefully more music this year.

Matthew: Is there going to be an overall theme for the 2016 festival?

Storm: Our overall theme for the festival in the past has been to blend cultures, which is sort of a representation of our town.

Matthew: Where do you see your festival in 5 years?

Storm: In 4 years we hope to have our own venue to have several events a year. We hope that the Mexico government will get behind our festival and support our event in the way they support Guadalajara, Morelia, etc. We’ve already been so successful in our first two years, it’s hard to imagine what will be in store for Sayulita in 5 years.

Matthew: What’s the current status of the Film Scene in your city?

Storm: Our film scene is non-existent. Occasionally we’ll screen old films on the beach, but it’s rare. We have no theater to screen films. There are major upsides to where we live, our community is an amazing unique group of people, but one of the downsides is our only access to films is Netflix.

Matthew: What film have you seen the most in your life?

Storm: If I had to guess it would probably be Blade Runner, the directors cut.

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Matthew Toffolo, Interviewer BIO

Filmmaker of over 20 short films and TV episodes, Matthew Toffolo is the current CEO of the WILDsound Film and Writing Festival. He had worked for the organization since its inception in 2007 serving as the Short Film Festival’s moderator during the Audience Feedback sessions.

Go to http://www.wildsound.ca and submit your film, script, or story to the festival.

Go to http://www.wildsoundfestival.com and watch recent and past winning writing festival readings.