Lights, Camera, and Where is My Friggin’ Vivarin?!

Think you could make a buddy film that had to include a colander, a cab driver named Ignazio Del Fuego, and the line, “When you say it like that, it almost sounds like poetry?”

Oh, and here’s the kicker – you have to make it in 48 hours.

That’s the concept behind The 48 Hour Film Project, which is a sleepless weekend of movie making and mad dashing as teams of movie makers write, shoot,and edit a four- to seven-minute film in the time it takes most people to mow the lawn.

This is the first time this groundbreaking competition has come to Paducah, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to get out there and do something! It doesn’t have to be perfect, fancy or all…high falutin’ and makin’ sense, because jeez you only have a weekend to do it. There’s a good chance most entries will be giddy silliness, but it’s a good excuse to get your friends together and spend the weekend drinking espresso and running around town at 3 a.m. with someone’s digital video camera.

Interested? Good! Here’s what to expect:

Basically, what will happen is that at 7 p.m. on Friday, August 14, all the teams gather at Maiden Alley Cinema and pick one of 15 genres — anything from horror, sci-fi, romance, comedy, detective/cop, holiday or the ever popular, musical or western. Then you get a character, a prop and one line of dialogue that MUST be used in the film. You then have, yes, 48 hours to do all the creative work on the film — pretty much everything, except you can use music that was made prior to the weekend as a soundtrack if you have permission from the artist. (You hear that all you musicians? It’s your chance to make your version of The Wall!) 

Then later in the week, all the movies will be shown to your friends, family and the whole town at Maiden Alley Cinema. The movies will be judged by local film buffs and the winner will go on to compete against other entries from around the world. There’s even a screening of several selections of 48HR Films at the Cannes Film Festival.

The entry fee is $125 per team and the deadline to sign up is July 27. If you can’t get a group together, you can volunteer to be on another team. So even if you’re new in town you can get out your best wig and get your Kim Basinger as Veronica Lake on. Or I guess if you’re a John Waters fan, get your Divine on.

I would think that they not only need actors and directors, but also people to write, do makeup, handle equipment, or just provide moral support and neck rubs. Or a car. Sometimes with us artist-types a licensed driver is hard to find.
Filmmakers have to provide all of their own equipment, and it has to be done in a digital format. They prefer miniDV but other forms are acceptable.

For a complete list of rules, deadlines, more info and fun facts, check out 48hourfilm.com, go to Maiden Alley’s 48 Hour Film page or email Landee Bryant.

Don’t miss this opportunity let your inner Tarantino shine! Just don’t let him be a dick like the real one.

---