Edinburgh's 48 Hour Film Project to challenge creative film markers

DOZENS of budding filmmakers are gearing up to write, shoot and edit their own flicks for an international competition '“ but they only have 48 hours to do it.
Team dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon RimmerTeam dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon Rimmer
Team dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon Rimmer

The first teams have now just announced for Edinburgh’s 48 Hour Film Project, where up to 30 local crews will make short movies over the course of one weekend.

The winning team will receive £1500 from arts body Creative Scotland to take them to the Filmapalooza Festival in Paris. The best entries from teams around the world will be shown at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

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Actress Isela Hamilton, who is entering with a six-man crew, said entering has “always been a dream of hers”.

Team dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon RimmerTeam dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon Rimmer
Team dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon Rimmer

She said: “I think it’s a really amazing project in the sense that it brings creative people together under such a limited amount of time and let’s them really come together to make something great. It’s so different from your typical short film making process.

“To be completely honest, we would all do it if there was no prize at all – to us it’s more about the creativity and coming together.

“And the opportunity at Cannes would be incredible for all of us.”

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Organisers, who describe the project as “Scotland’s most popular filmmaking event”, are hosting an opening ceremony at Cabaret Voltaire on May 18.

Team dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon RimmerTeam dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon Rimmer
Team dropshack from the 2017 48 hour film challenge. Picture; Johnathon Rimmer

Competitors will be asked to draw a specific genre from a hat. They will then be given a character, a line and a prop to include in their films, which have to be turned in within two days.

Last year, the team One More Stone won with Born to Run, a “futuristic post-apocalyptic western” where most of womankind is wiped out.

The film’s director Sarah Grant, who works as a producer for Edinburgh Napier University, said the challenging nature of the project is “the best part”.

“It’s the highlight of my year,” said Sarah.

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“Usually, you can end up in pre-production hell trying to make a film perfect.

“This project forces you to make decisions and come up with creative solutions in not much time at all.

“It’s such a good laugh.

“We first entered two years ago when we just had a handy cam and a tripod to work with.

“It’s worth doing because it opens up opportunities. We’ve made contacts from all over the world because of the film we made.”

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The 48 Hour Film Project was first established in 2003 and is held in 130 cities across six continents, making it the oldest and largest timed film making competition.

Edinburgh’s first event was held in 2016.

Producers of the festival include creator Mark Ruppert, co-founder Liz Langston, director of operations Christina Ruppert and Laura Schlecht who is director of web operations.

Since the idea was born, Some 30,000 are estimated to have crossed their cutting room floor from 900 competitions across the world involving 390,000 film-makers.

Screenings of this year’s films will be shown at The Cameo Cinema on May 24.

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