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24 filmmakers to document 72 hours in the life of Whistler What: 1 st Annual Filmmaker Showdown When: April 17, 9 p.m.

24 filmmakers to document 72 hours in the life of Whistler

What: 1 st Annual Filmmaker Showdown

When: April 17, 9 p.m.

Where: Whistler Conference Centre

The Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival announced that 24 teams of filmmakers, from Whistler, Vancouver, Montreal, L.A., and Portland, will take part in the first Filmmaker Showdown.

The idea behind the festival is to document 72 hours during the 10-day sport and entertainment festival.

Filmmakers can shoot anywhere within a 100 km radius of Whistler.

"With inexpensive video cameras… new filmmakers are embracing the art. The results will no doubt be electric," says Catherine Yates, producer for the Exposure multimedia events, which include the Whistler Photographic Society exhibition.

Starting at 5 p.m on April 12, teams have 72 hours to shoot, edit, and produce a film up to 4.5 minutes long.

Brian Hockenstein, a local filmmaker who entered the event, is ready to go with his computer editing suite set up at home.

"Part of the excitement is that this is the first competition, and I’ve written down a few ideas but don’t know yet which ones I’ll use. They’re rough sketches at this point," he says.

Once the completed films have been submitted, a review committee will pick the top six, based on each film’s ability to engage the viewer. Films will not be judged on editing or sound editing techniques, owing to the wide range of technology being used.

The review committee for the event is Daryl Hackett, Darrin Polischuk, Jack Turner, Jim Budge, and Sean Horne.

A reception April 17 will reveal each of the six finalists, one by one, with filmmaker Greg Stump MCing the evening.

One winner will be chosen Best In Show, by a judging panel. The panel is Peter Rowe, chairman of the Director’s Guild of Canada, Bill Heath, action sports cinematographer, Katherine Monk, Vancouver Sun movie critic, and Darryl Palmer, producer.

The Best in Show winner will also have a screening of their film, presented by Rowe, at the annual general meeting of the Director’s Guild.

The Filmmaker Showdown is a co-presentation of W1 and Elements Magazine.

Tickets for the Filmmaker Showdown are $10, available in advance through the Whistler Conference Centre’s activity desk as of April 12, or call 604-932-2394.