The 48 1/2 Hour Film Challenge

“Small is underrated. Fringe is underrated. Local and independent are far too often underrated. Instead of looking beyond Stratford to Toronto, and beyond Toronto to Hollywood we should be fostering creative genius among ourselves. Telling stories in and about our neighbourhoods, and produced, written by, starring, and directed by people like ourselves. Otherwise we leave it to an extremely small group of moneymen in far away places to sell us a homogenized version of reality that barely, if at all, reflects our communities.”- Leigh (opening remarks 2017)

It's your chance to stop talking and start filming! The premise? Filmmaking teams have just one weekend to make a short film. All creativity—writing, shooting, editing and adding a musical soundtrack—must occur in a 48 hour window beginning Friday October 12th at 4:00pm and ending Sunday at 4:30pm. The following week, the completed films are screened to an eager audience.

At the beginning of the 48 ½ hours each aspiring filmmaker is given an inspiration envelope that contains a subgenre of B Film, (think "Kung-Fu cannibals from Neptune,") as well as a required prop, a line of dialogue, and a character. Each of which must appear in the final film.

Filming can be done with a smartphone, tablet, or full suite of professional equipment. The chosen method of filming will have no impact on the judging process as the emphasis will be on creativity, story, directorial achievements, and dialogue. Not budget.

Most important is to have fun with it!