And The Weekend-Film Winner Is … ?

Director-producer Darrell Bellamy Jr. was in a creative slump — but he had already signed up to participate in the New Haven 48 Hour Film Project, an annual summer competition to make a short movie over the course of just two days.

“I had to go for it,” said Bellamy, co-creator of the upcoming thriller ​“Marblehead,” as well as ​“Get Yer Mind Right,” a coming-of-age YouTube series.

Several weeks later, he found himself at a raucous 48 Hour Film Project awards ceremony at Armada Brewery — buoyed by two award nominations, and waiting to see if he and his team would make it out on top.

In New Haven for its 14^th year, as well as in cities around the world, the ​“48,” as it’s affectionately known, offers filmmakers a simple challenge: To write, cast, direct, shoot, and edit the best four-to-seven-minute flick in two days. 

The only limitations: the genre, which is assigned, and certain elements — a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue — that must be incorporated into the film.

Bellamy was all in. Over the course of the last weekend of July, he produced a seven-minute psychological horror flick–​“Nightmares Are Dreams Too”–about a man who peddles dreams that turn out to be nightmares.

“No sleep,” he said of the weekend. Once he returned from the Friday night kickoff ceremony with the assigned genre – horror – he convened a Zoom meeting with his team. ​“We came up with a good idea” — he credited team member Marquise Bolton — ​“and then I had my writer, Melo, write up a draft,” he said. The two stayed up all night, doctoring the script and planning locations. 

Early Saturday morning, his team met at a house in West Haven, where he shot a series of scenes, before heading to a warehouse. Among the team members was his mother, Adria Bellamy, making her acting debut as a no-nonsense nurse. 

“It was fun but it was serious,” Bellamy said at the awards ceremony, which took place at Armada Brewing on River Street in Fair Haven Friday, Aug. 30. ​“I was getting on my team, no lollygagging, no laughing, we’re getting straight to the point.” The challenge, he said, was getting in the required elements: the prop, an avocado, as well as the character, Jaden Starborne, and the line of dialogue. On the Sunday of the competition, he edited the audio and visual content, adding special effects, titles, and scoring the last song with his own beat. ​“I was real happy with it,” he said. 

Among the 25 short films, ​“Nightmares” went on to garner two nominations, one for best director, the other an Audience Choice Award. ​“We’re feeling good,” said ​“Nightmares” co-director and author of ​“Marblehead,” D. Jeff Bell, as he entered Armada Brewery for Awards Night. 

There was also the response when the film was screened at New Haven’s Third Annual Black Wall Street a little over a week before the ceremony. 

“I was so nervous I was shaking, because you don’t know if they’re gonna like it or not,” Bellamy recalled. ​“And they loved it. There was a standing ovation. People were telling me, ​‘you had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.’” 

As it turned out, Bellamy and his team left the late-August ceremony with no awards. Best Film went to the sleek whodunnit, ​“If You Don’t,” by Barber Favor Productions, earning them a trip to the national Filmapalooza in Seattle in March 2025 and a chance of being shown at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

“I get the frustration,” said Lorna James-Rodriguez, an actor, seasoned filmmaker, and four-time 48-hour participant who took on the 48 Hour Film Project city producer post this May. ​“My first year in the contest I didn’t realize I didn’t have the ambient sound for a scene until I was editing on Sunday, and I had to go back to the site.” 

There’s a reason that the ​“48” is known as the best film school around, she added. ​“You learn by making mistakes, and those lessons teach you how to do it better the next time,” she said.

There’s another benefit to the 48-hour exercise, win or lose, according to veteran filmmaker Jay Miles, board chair of East Haven Public Television and a long-time sponsor and supporter of the 48 Film Project.

“When you put a time limit on your creativity, it forces the best stuff to come out,” he said, during an intermission at the awards ceremony.

James-Rodriguez expressed enthusiasm for the future. ​“There’s a lot of talent in this area and that speaks to the quality of work that was submitted this year,” she said, pledging to offer more workshops on the craft. (She hosted workshops in acting and auditioning, as well as on film scoring and sound, prior to this year’s competition.)

Bellamy sounded a similar refrain. ​“MJ didn’t win a ring for six or seven years,” he said, referring to basketball superstar Michael Jordan. The project, he said, forced him to break the habit of overthinking every detail. It also helped get him back into the groove.

“Now I have that drive again,” he said, adding that ​“Marblehead,” the locally produced thriller, should be completed by January. He’s also started a Photo and Film Academy at Playhouse Studios on State Street. ​“That weekend put me in a zone to create and just being creative, I felt free like I was painting a mural. I was just in a zone.” 

“I’ll be back.”