So if you don’t know what the 72 Hour Film Shootout is, it’s a film-making competition where a ‘theme’ is presented on a Friday, and registered teams are given 72 hours to write, cast, shoot, edit, etc; a short film and submit it on time. It’s pretty fun, and it’s a great vehicle for filmmakers to test their skills and resources. It’s also great because it promotes and encourages diversity in film and is good exposure for Asians in film-making, whether they be a director, writer, actor or what have you. The competition requires each team to [A.] be comprised of atleast one main crew member, filmmaker on writer, etc; that is of Asian descent, and [B.] cast one principal actor who is of Asian descent. The competition is held each year by the Asian American Film Lab, which I just so happen to be a previous president of.
Anywhooo…
This year’s ‘theme’ I believe was “Two Faces.” In July of 2015, I attended the awards ceremony/screening for the finalists at the Asian American International Film Festival [AAIFF], a co-sponsor of the competition. The top 10 entries, and individual winning entries of various categories were announced and shown.
I’m not going to go through individual entries, but I’ll talk about them and the event in general. Especially since, it was a while ago since the event.
As always, I was impressed with the entries. It’s just so much fun to see what people can do with so little time and how creative and resourceful they can be. It’s fun to discover numerous variations on different interpretations and uses of a theme, and see how they implemented their ideas.
It’s no surprise that my favorites were also basically the top three winners!
Here’s a link to a playlist for this year’s entries!
I highly recommend anyone to participate in this Shootout. The level of experience varies greatly on each team. You can always join a team, if you don’t want to lead one yourself. Why not, it’ll be fun! I also recommend watching previous years entries which are available on YouTube! Make sure you know the ‘theme’ for that particular year first, if you can, then watch that its top 10. Pick your favorites, it’s great stuff!
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