48 Hour Film Competition

"Make a short film in 48 HOURS? You'd have to be mad. Fortunately, temporary insanity is one thing this competition isn't lacking; the competition has been attracting movie maniacs since 2003 when just 44 teams took part in Auckland. In 2011 over 800 teams took part right across New Zealand. It continues to grow.

- 48 Hour Furious Film-making Competition

Filmmakers don't know what genre (thriller/romance etc) they will be shooting until the start of the competition. All creativity: writing, shooting, editing and adding a soundtrack, must occur within the 48 hour window beginning Friday evening at 7pm and ending Sunday at 7pm. To add to the mayhem, there are some random elements that must be included - a line of dialogue, a prop, a character and a character's name."

The 48Hr film competition is a great event.

The Heist - Daimonds in the Desert (2008)

Hellfire and Angels (2007)

Jake and Angelwhiskers (2006)

It has been the catalyst for my family and friends to get together and have some fun over a weekend. 48 sleepless and stress-filled hours later a short film is born. Added to this, over the following weeks, there is the excitement of showing our baby off in one of the heats, seeing the films of other crews and being a part of the national endeavour that make the efforts of the first weekend all worthwhile.

It is an exciting challenge for old hacks and a great introduction for the novice to many of the ups and downs inherent in filmmaking.

In 2006 we entered for the first time - with an unusual approach... yes, we film with mice. Sure, they can't act but on the plus side, with catering being the biggest item on our budget, they don't eat much. Over the following years we went on to make a trilogy. Enjoy them! Forgive the flaws... with a few more hours we might have fixed them. This is not the last you will see of the mice - with small budgets we shall make many more small films.