Actors, directors and camera operators will be running around Okotoks creating short films in a race against time.
The Okotoks Film Festival Society is challenging local filmmakers of all ages to put their skills to the test in a 48-hour filmmaking challenge May 19-21.
“I’ve done these before and they’re a lot of fun,” said Okotoks filmmaker Shawna Koski, who signed up for the challenge. “It’s one of those things where you’ve got to think on your feet. A lot of times in film it takes a long time to plan out, but with this you don’t have time to really think and dwell on things. You get something going and just do it.”
At the start of the challenge, teams will be presented with a genre, prop and line of dialogue and will have the weekend to write, shoot and edit their film.
The films must run five to seven minutes. Those meeting the criteria set by the Okotoks Film Festival Society will be screened during the Okotoks Film Festival June 4 at 7 p.m. in the Rotary Performing Arts Centre.
Awards will be presented for best film, best use of prop, best use of line, best use of genre and audience choice.
Koski plans to create a stop motion animated film with her sister and said she doesn’t expect the limited time to create the film to negatively impact the final product.
“I did an animation in 24 hours,” she said. “It was no question when they announced we could do this challenge. We are being given a prop and theme and I like that idea. You just have to work with it and see if you can come up with something within 48 hours.”
Koski, who submitted three films to the upcoming Okotoks Film Festival, said the challenge is a great way to build up hype for the festival.
“It’s a really cool idea to get people excited about films,” she said. “It’s something new to this community.”
Katie Fournell, president of the Okotoks Film Festival Society and director of the Okotoks Film Festival, said three teams have already registered for the challenge and she hopes to see as many as 10 entries.
“From what I’ve seen from Okotoks filmmakers so far it will be outstanding,” she said. “For the festival we have quite a few really good local films to pick from so I expect nothing but quality from the films we get.”
Fournell expects the final products coming from the challenge to be quite different from what will be showcased at the Okotoks Film Festival two weekends later.
“They will be campy and cheesy because we are putting restrictions on them that they don’t normally have,” she said. “We have talented filmmakers and we’ll be excited to see what they bring to the table for this festival.”
Fournell said the Okotoks Film Festival Society got the idea of the 48-hour filmmaking challenge from the Calgary Underground Film Festival, which has held a similar competition for years. She said she’s also organized similar events in other communities in the past.
“The big reason we want to do it is to give filmmakers who maybe haven’t made a film in a while or haven’t had an opportunity to complete a film to have a film under their belt,” she said. “By giving this deadline it helps them to get their butts in gear and get the film done.”
The films will be screened during the Okotoks Film Festival on June 4 at 7 p.m.
To learn the criteria for the challenge and to sign up go to okotoksfilmfestival.ca/48-hour.php
The entry fee is $30 per team.
