48 Hour Film Project is Totally Hot

Several years ago, a filmmaker in DC came up with an idea for a competition that would pit teams of filmmakers against one another to create an entire short film, from concept to execution to final delivery, in two days. The 48 Hour Film Project has, since 2001, expanded across the country to cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and Austin.

The idea's pretty simple, if somewhat demanding: groups were forced to chose a genre for their film at a random drawing held at the competition's beginning. All were given a character, prop, and line of dialogue that had to appear in all of the films. Beyond that, though, the teams were free to assemble their own cast and crew, equipment.

Austin's contest was run this past weekend, with these elements selected for mandatory inclusion:

• Character: Ed or Emily Kaye, Professional Organizer
• Prop: Photo, drawing or painting of a deceased relative
• Line of Dialogue: "Check this out. It’s totally hot.”

The groups delivering their finished masterpieces on Sunday night. To get a sense of the accelerated schedules these teams had to work within, check out this blog entry by Justin Kirchhoff, from a group called Metropolis Films.

All finished works will be screened tonight and tomorrow evening at the Arbor Theatre at Great Hills. Check the listings after the jump to find out whic

48 Hour Film Project: Austin
Arbor Theatre at Great Hills
June 27-28
Tuesday: Group A (6pm), Group B (8pm)
Wednesday: Group B (6pm), Group A (8pm)
Tickets available at door