This weekend members of Taupō’s award winning Great Lake Film Society (GLFS) will be waiting, popcorn at the ready, to find out how their entry has fared in this year’s 48 Hour Film Festival.
Filmed over August 15-17, their entry ‘The Hat Trick’ has been nominated for several awards which the group will hear if it has won following the Across Aotearoa Regional Final online premiere on YouTube on Saturday (September 27).
The group will also find out if they have been shortlisted for the National Grand Final on Saturday October 25 – though the final list for this is due following the Auckland Regional Final in early October.
GLFS nominations for their region include: Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Script, Best Director for the team, and Outstanding Female / Gender Diverse Filmmaker for Denise Edmonds and Best Performer for Dervla Murtagh.
Film maker Joel Corbett who co-wrote and directed The Hat Trick with Edmonds said the group was always chuffed to get nominated, though because viewing films was subjective, a judge might overlook something another person thought was amazing.
“But what we really love… is just having all of the team's efforts recognised and being able to show something to a wider audience because the more accolades you receive for your film the more people will stand up and want to pay attention.”
This year’s 48Hour festival has been divided into four regions – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Across Aotearoa (everywhere else) condensing some of the regions from previous years.
Being in the finals for a region with such a large number of entries was “really cool,” said Corbett who described 48Hours in a nutshell as “the most frenetic and lunatic film festival in all of New Zealand… where teams get a genre and 48 hours to make a film, write it, shoot it, edit it, and send it in.”
One minute over that limit and a film is disqualified, he said.
This year’s effort for GLFS was no less frenetic than past years.
“The start time was 7pm on the Friday night and delivery time was 7pm on Sunday so whether you want to sleep or not during those 48 hours is completely up to you, but that cuts into your filming time, so there wasn't much sleep happening for our team.”
And while not new, the society’s habit of starting filming before sorting out the ending for the film, added to the chaos.
“We've had that same situation a few times… and then we're like oh man the ending's going to turn up, I'm sure it will, but this time it was down to the wire. It was actually Sunday morning, we got the ending at about 10am… and you know we have to hand the film in nine hours later and we still haven't even written the ending.
“But we had a really great first and second act, so we were like that ending, it's going to turn up.”
GLFS used the Wallace Motors workshop and a few other locations which involved a little more set dressing.
“When we landed on our idea we were like ‘perfect, this fits right into what we want to do and it's got lovely texture’… and what can you do with cars, hoist them up in the air and everyone walking around with power drills. We were very careful, let's be fair, but at the same time… we were like we're going to use that, sure.
“It's all about working to your strength and then making it something that other people might not have access to as that will elevate your film above the rest of the crowd really because there are 600 or 700 other films that the judges are watching.”
Corbett can’t reveal too much of the storyline but said it’s about Bonnie, an art thief who steals something she shouldn't and from there, chaos and hilarity ensue.
“We definitely want people to be surprised when they watch it… the more you go into this blind the more you'll get a treat.”
The GLFS team would be having a watch party on Saturday, he said.
“We’ll have a little bit of a celebrate even if we don't win, it's just a fun time getting together and watching films and watching what everyone else made.”
Across Aotearoa Regional Final
Saturday September 27, 7pm, screened as an online premiere on the Vista Foundation @48hoursnz YouTube Channel
Great Lake Film Society successes in the 48Hour Film Festival:
Extra Time: A time travel mix-up involving craft beer. The group’s first collaboration in 2019 made it all the way into the National Grand Final.
R.A.W.W.: A typical night of carnage at the Raetihi Amateur Women's Wrestling. This 2021 entry won Best Cinematography and Best Editing for the Bay of Plenty region.
Loose End: A film that unravels in a tightly wound world where everyone's path is predetermined. 2024 Bay of Plenty Regional winner, Wildcard film selected by Sir Peter Jackson for National Grand Final where it won a 3rd Place.
