Although I have been to my fair share of music festivals, I have never been one to be absolutely obsessed with them. I adore the music and the energy and the outfits, of course, but sometimes the unbearable heat and close-knit spaces between all of the people is exhausting. However, last weekend, I watched a movie that made me want to attend every music festival across the nation. 

The movie is called "No Cameras Allowed", a documentary of James Marcus Haney, which was picked up by MTV. You may have heard it is a story of James and his adventurous ways of sneaking into various music festivals, but it is so much more than that. Yes, you can almost feel the exhilaration he experiences when sneaking into Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and Glastonbury (in England!), but I could feel his passion for the music and his appreciation for the artists a great deal more. It is a story of a USC film student with a love for photography who began with sneaking into Coachella in 2010, and is now photographing and working with some of today's biggest artists. The best part? It's all captured on tape. 

James' journey began with a desire to go to Coachella, but who can afford a music festival ticket on a college student's budget? Slipping a few cameras around his neck and putting a bunch of old wristbands on to seem "official", James made it into the festival and put himself at great risk just to listen to the music he adored and see the girl he had been intensely crushing on. From the moment he made it into Coachella, the excitement just kept growing and growing. He pretended to be part of the camera crew, so James was in the absolute front, just feet away from the people he admires most. The footage shown is so real; James' recordings capture the most genuine and lively moments had by the audience and the performers themselves. It  wasn't glammed up" or artificial looking. As I watched, I felt as if I was there, part of the music and beautiful community that Coachella offered. 

But that was only the beginning. As James sneaked into and experienced more and more festivals, the intimacy and naturalness of his photography was noticed by the talent themselves. He was not on the outside anymore. Eventually, James was even personally asked by Mumford & Sons to go on tour with them to capture live footage; Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and Old Crow Medicine Show accompanied as well. Can you even imagine? Unfortunately, this tour was during finals week, and if he took this incredible opportunity, he would not graduate from USC. Not so surprisingly, James' devotion to photography, affection for the music, and crave for adventure did not let school stop him. He went on the tour. And loved it. The bands loved him too. 

However, it is important to consider not only the gains he got from this experience, but the losses as well. Remember the girl James had a crush on that I mentioned in the beginning of this article? Well, she was his girlfriend and his best friend, but James' time away caused their relationship to begin to dwindle. His parents and friends also were affected by James' absence. In the blink of an eye, he went from a music-obsessed, amateur photographer, to a someone who's work was admired and even featured in The Rolling Stone. Fortunately, he needed to hit rock bottom in order to put his priorities straight, and this is exactly what he did. 

I do not want to spoil the movie, but let's just say in the end, James gets the best of both worlds. On his journeys of traveling to different festivals, James formed intimate bonds with people he never would have met if he did not "music festival hop." Along with these new best friends and his girlfriend and friends from home, James rented an RV and traveled all the way from California from Texas to go to Austin City Limits. It doesn't get better than some amazing music and all of the people you love.

After finishing the movie (twice), I realized that this is not so much a story about a boy and his love for music festivals as it is a coming of age story of how one fulfills his dreams. (The music festival background is definitely a plus, though!) If you choose to watch this film, I hope your heart beats a lot and you can't stop smiling, just like me.