It’s the day before the 48 Hour awards are announced in Greensboro and from my perspective; a small minority seems to be missing the point of it all. Already grumblings about judges and harsh public critiques of some of films have surfaced.

Last year (and probably too at other 48 Hour cities) similar distortions of the process emerged, so I’ve decided to throw my two cents in, both as one of the participating filmmakers and as someone who has spent much time and effort working on building a sense of community amongst filmmakers and artists here in the Triad.

The point of it all is not about who wins. If it were about winning and only winning, then teams would be free to spend all sorts of money, hire paid professionals and actively sabotage other teams. But that’s not what’s in the rules or guidelines. Instead, teams come from all works of life, all ages, all backgrounds. Many are making their first film ever – an intimidating task under any conditions, much less a 48 Hour deadline. Many are taking on new, bigger roles in the filmmaking process than ever before. Teams mix film pros with people who’ve never been near a film set in their lives. Teams range in size from under 5 to over 40 people. They are coming together for one reason – to have fun and make a film.

If it were only about winning, there would skill qualifications and applications, minimum equipment standards and detailed technical specifications for the films. But that’s not what happens. As long as you can hand in a VHS, DVD or miniDV, you are ready to screen your film. You can even shoot your titles on scraps of paper. Last year, one film was shot with a cheap VHS camera and edited on a couple of home VCRs. People still talk about it today.

If were only about who wins in Greensboro, there would be only one city. But there are over 30 cities doing this worldwide with probably 1000 teams. And with teams probably averaging at least 10, that’s over 10,000 people making films this year. Greensboro is just a small part of that. We aren’t competing against ourselves, and not even the other cities. Instead, we are showcasing what fun we had making a film in 48 hours.

The point of it all is not about who made the “best” film. Comparing films with similar budgets, goals, genres is difficult enough for professional critics (is Blade Runner better than 2001: A Space Odyssey?), much less films made during the 48 Hour film festival. Trying to judge comedy vs. spy or mockumentary vs. sci-fi is not easy, and some, myself included, might argue is not even possible. This is especially true since the production issues facing a team that draws “sci-fi” are much different from a team drawing “comedy”. Both are challenges, but not in the same way.

So, what is the point of it all? Well, the title of the festival gives us a big fat clue: “48 Hours”. The point is to try to make a four to seven minute film in 48 Hours. “Try” and “48”. Anyone who’s made a few films knows that 48 Hours is way too short a period of time to make a film. That’s where the fun comes in. Because there is not enough time to make a film. The insanity of the premise, the adrenaline that kicks in, the way teams pull together and bond under stress – Wow! –- what’s better than that?

“Try” – Yoda said “there is no try” but he was never a 48 Hour Filmmaker. That’s why there are two deadlines, 7:30 pm to be eligible for judging and 12:00 midnight for the screening (and my guess is the 12:00 is always a little .fuzzy as everybody want to see as many films as possible). A single technical problem (camera dies, computer crash, traffic jam etc.) beyond a team’s control can cause them to miss the deadline. You need some luck to finish it. Some teams may have the luxury of multiple cameras, computers but most don’t.

But clearly from the few (and unfortunately vocal minority) that seem to think it’s all about winning or making a “great” film, I believe they need a healthy dose of reality. If anyone thinks they can make a “great” film in 48 hours, well they don’t know too much about filmmaking. The international 48 Hour winners don’t compare to the best short films made by the hundreds every year. Yes, they are good/decent/okay films made in the 48 Hour process, but not great ones. In making a 48 Hour Film, at least one thing has to go, often the technical aspects, but also the creative process. You are not going to make a masterpiece in 48 Hours.

The films we make have to be taken in context. They are made in a mad rush of impulse, creativity, fun and mania. It is amazing how well some of the films come together, but the real achievement is trying to get a film together at all. Even if a last minute technical hiccup defeats a team from making the deadline etc, they worked, tried and had just as much fun as the teams that made it.

Which brings us to what the real point of it all is, community. The 48 Hour Film Festival is only here because we have worked hard the last few years to build and establish a healthy indie film community. That community needs mutual support, nurturing and respect to grow and thrive far from the hills of Hollywood, big budgets, fame and fortune. We sink or swim together.

Focusing on the competition rather than the camaraderie, taking other filmmakers down so you can feel better about your 48 Hour film and attacking the judges has somehow biased and unfair (note to whiners – all judging is biased and unfair. That’s why it’s called judging.) – all this accomplished exactly zero. Well, not exactly zero. Less the zero. Negative. It discourages people down and pushes them apart.

Does that help our film community in any way? Does it even help those who temporarily feel better by publicly criticizing their fellow filmmakers? Did they think for a moment of the potential impact of their often scathing, off base comments on the young teens making their film or the half-dozen teams making their first film? I once was a young filmmaker, insecure, unskilled. Some scathing critiques of my work helped push me to drop out of film school and not make a film for 10 years. And I know a number of others right here in Greensboro who share my story.

I cringe when I think I’ve even inadvertently hurt a fellow artist. Critics, especially idle, arm-chair bound, ill-informed ones are a dime a dozen. True supporters and respected source for honest feedback are rare treasures.

The bottom line is that in most cases (and certainly this year’s case), those that are criticizing are not qualified to have an opinion. They have not led their own 48 Hour team or even made their own film and debuted it in front of hundreds of people. Neither have they ever had the difficult job of trying to chose “best” or “winner” in a film festival. Yet someone, like a politician with an ugly sound bite, they get way more airtime than they deserve.

Of course, I’m not pretending that winners won’t be announced. Nor do I deny that it would be great fun to win. Or even that if I might not agree with the judges decisions. We’re all only humans. But we are also neighbors, friends, peers and co-workers and there are at least a half-dozen films that I would love to see win “Best of Greensboro” and plenty more that easily qualify to win in the other categories.

The point of it all is celebrating how our indie film community has grown, come together and shown to the filmmaking world that we love making films, we love the 48 Hour film festival, and we kick ass. Let’s just try NOT to kick each other

Peace.
stephen van vuuren
July 29th, 2005

reach stephen at www.stephenv2.com