Local filmmakers who can create a movie from a few totally unrelated storyline elements will have an opportunity next weekend to grab the brass ring: a screening of their work at the Cannes International Film Festival. Before entering the New Haven 48 Hour Film Project, though, they’d be wise to get some serious sleep.
According to its website: “The 48 Hour Film Project’s mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers. Through its festival/competition, the Project encourages filmmakers and would-be filmmakers to get out there and make movies.”
There’s one catch: Filmmakers have 48 hours to do so. In New Haven, the clock starts next Friday, Aug. 5, and stops on Sunday, Aug. 7, with screenings of the completed films scheduled to take place on Thursday, August 11, at the Whitney Humanities Center.
According to Patricia Clark, who’s producing the New Haven 48 Hour Film Project, six filmmaking teams have already registered for the New Haven 48 Hour Film Project and are waiting to receive the three “elements” that must be included in all 48 Hour Film Project submissions, which, completed, should be five to seven minutes in duration.
From the 48 Hour Film Project website: “In each city, at the Kickoff Event, we will draw a character, a prop and a line of dialogue out of a hat. These elements must appear in your film in some way.” Local filmmaking teams will also be expected to include in their films an “iconic shot of New Haven,” Clark said.
Local filmmaking teams will receive these “elements” at the New Haven 48 Hour Film Project Kickoff Event, which is scheduled to take place next Friday, Aug. 5, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., at The Space in Hamden. Teams will be expected to submit their completed films, at the same location, 24 hours later.
The 48 Hour Film Project is taking place in more than 50 U.S. cities and nearly 50 cities abroad. In each city, one winning film will be selected to be screened at the 48 Hour Film Project’s Filmapalooza 2012, which is scheduled to take place in March 2012 at the Taos Shortz Film Fest in New Mexico. The top film from each U.S. and international city will be entered into a competition for a chance at being screened at Cannes.
In addition, the 48 Hour Film Project website indicates that “10 of the best films of the 2011 Tour will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner in 2012.”
Clark, who works as a senior personnel analyst for the City of New Haven’s Department of Human Resources, said she “used to work in TV, in New York. … I heard about the 48 Hour Film Project from friends of mine.”
This past spring, Clark said she received a newsletter from the organization looking for venues — and looking for a venue in Hartford.
“I wrote them back and I said, ‘I’m in Connecticut, and I think you meant New Haven,’” Clark said.
The project, Clark said, is “very well-organized. It’s very user-friendly on the website. It’s a well-run machine.”
Registration for the New Haven 48 Hour Film Project is $125. Interested individuals can also sign up to join an existing team.