The 48 Hour Film Project comes to Johannesburg

The world’s largest timed filmmaking competition, the 48 Hour Film Project, has announced that its 2011 tour will tear through Johannesburg from 2 to 4 September, challenging filmmakers to complete the entire filmmaking process – from writing and casting to shooting and editing – in a mere 48 hours. With the help of the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC), Johannesburg filmmakers will join a record 2 500 filmmaking teams worldwide – a total of 35,000 people - expected to take part in the competition, relying on inspiration, adrenaline, and lots of coffee to complete short films of up to seven minutes in only two sleepless days.





Filmmaking teams of all levels begin at 7pm on a Friday and deliver a finished 4 to 7 minute film by 7pm Sunday. Each team is assigned a genre, character, prop, and line of dialogue that they must work into their film. They are responsible for putting together a cast and crew, and getting equipment and anything else necessary to make a film/video in just a weekend. Any team, regardless of skill level, is eligible to participate in this competition.

The Johannesburg 48HFP will also host free filmmaking workshops at the Goethe Institute to level the playing field for all entrants. These will include various film disciplines conducted by industry professional such as acclaimed Isidingo actress Hlubi Mboya and NFVF's script writing lecturer, Loyiso Manqoma.



Films will be screened for the public on 17 and 18 September at Nu-Metro Hyde Park, where the audience will select their favourite film. The winners will then be in the running for top honours at Filmapalooza, the 48 Hour Film Project’s annual awards event honouring the year’s top films, which will form part of the Taos Shortz Film Fest in Taos, New Mexico. Films will also compete to be among 14 films to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner in 2012.


For more information on how to participate in Johannesburg’s competition or to attend Johannesburg's screening, please visit: www.48hourfilm.com/johannesburg


(SCREEN AFRICA)