An Edmonton festival is hoping to inspire fledgling storytellers with a challenge: tell a story, using only your cellphone, in just 48 hours.
The Edmonton Short Film Festival opened the Free 48 Hour Mobile Film Challenge to both rookie and experienced filmmakers.
Co-director of the festival, Sharlene Millang, said her team received a wide range of entries.
The event makes it an easily accessible way to get creative.
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“This is to level the playing field. Pretty much everyone has a phone and the phones take amazing video,” Millang said.
Rookie filmmaker Tim Hanson said he and friend Harley Myhovich entered the challenge with Some People’s Belts after making skits on social media for fun.
“Worst case scenario, we lose and we had a good time filming… best case scenario, we win and get some exposure,” said Hanson. “It was very much a learning experience as we did it. This is pretty new for both of us.”
Another challenge comes in post-production.
At the end of the challenge, organizers hope the experience awakens a love of filmmaking.
“We really want to encourage people to take video, tell stories, post it online. Who knows where it will go from there,” said Millang.
For Hanson, being involved in the process showed him a different side of Edmonton.
“Edmonton has quite the untapped potential for a film scene,” he said. “The more [opportunities] like this the better, no matter your skill level or resources. It’s a really huge deal.”
Two of the films will be selected as winners by the judges and a third film will be selected for best marketing campaign.
This is the third year of the challenge.
If you’d like to watch the screening at K-Days, head to Hall B at the Edmonton Expo Centre on Sunday.
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