What: Filmmaker Showdown
When: Tuesday, April 18
Where: Telus Conference Centre
Tickets: $15
The 2005 Filmmaker Showdown winner Robyn Taylor offered up one pearl of wisdom for filmmaking teams new to the 72-hour filmmaking marathon, which gets rolling this Friday.
"Don’t stage a scene at a top of a tall lamp post with a ladder that doesn’t reach," said the off-the-wall filmmaker. "I did that the previous year. It was terrifying."
Although lamps were out that year, the following year building a set on the ceiling for his winning film I Have Mitosing Cells seemed like the saner thing to do.
Wacky, innovative and often beautiful, the Filmmaker Showdown taps into the minds of creative geniuses like Taylor, challenging them to write, edit and produce a five-minute short film, all within 72 hours, and then splashes it across multiple screens for the entire world to see.
From 60 entries, eight will shine and screen Tuesday, April 18 at the Telus Conference Centre, where a panel of filmmaking industry panelists will award $10,000 in prizes to Best of Show.
Creativity is at the source of all showdown entries, ranging from artful dramatic menageries such as Lauren Graham’s Insert Meaning Here to a girl-power Barbie doll ski flick by Ace McKay Smith. Both were previous Showdown winners.
Limited time and even more limited budgets force filmmaking teams to get creative. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry and even if you don’t, five minutes is over quickly and you are on to the next one.
More than 1,800 attended last year’s showing. The event always sells out so pick up advance $15 tickets at www.whistler2006.com.
