48 Hour Challenge 2011

Recap
The 7th Annual 48 Hour Short Film Challenge took place February 18-20, 2011 and drew 74 teams from Arizona, Nevada and California. This collection of talent provided for the most entertaining Top 20 films in the seven year history of the A3F.

"The comments from the sold-out crowd of 447 enthusiastic film-goers were all the same," said Jae Staats, A3F Director and Founder. "They were just blown away by the talent and stories they saw unfold on the screen."

This year's guidelines asked the filmmakers to create 1-5 minute films using the Theme, A Change of Heart, a Line of Dialogue, "I hope this works." and an envelope as the Prop where one or more characters had to either open or close an envelope. These elements brought on some very creative and interesting scripts.

"We had seven time-travel themed films and two of them not only made the top 20 but placed first and second respectively," explained Jason Francois, a judge and Assistant A3F Director. "I really enjoyed watching the films this year, the quality and originality was outstanding."

The kick-off party and drop-off location took place at Majerle's Sport Grill in downtown Phoenix. A standing-room only 9 Lounge started the event on Friday, February 18. "We had filmmakers lined up out the door as so many people showed up," said Michele Meyer," A3F Marketing Director.

In addition to the filmmakers having to adhere to this year's guidelines, they also had to battle the weather as Phoenix was consumed by wind and rain throughout the weekend. As 7p.m. on Sunday rolled around, sixty teams made the deadline and turned in their films. "It was a mad-dash finish," recalled Jae, "over half the teams arrived in the last 15 minutes!"

This year's Honorable Mention 10 films received recognition and over 1100 views in just one day on the A3F Vimeo page as well as a case of Popchips from this year's sponsor.

The sold-out Top 20 Public Screening on March 3 at AMC Arizona Center 24 Theatres delighted the crowd and filmmakers alike. With a digital projection of the films, the largest screen in Phoenix absolutely lit up the night and created an electric atmosphere.

"I just really wanted to thank the A3F one more time for putting on the festival," said Robert Rodenbach, an actor in this year's overall winning film, The Park. "Acting and filmmaking is something I really love and thanks to the A3F we have a place to do it."

The night's festivities extended to the official After Party at 1130 The Restaurant where everyone congratulated each other after another successful Almost Famous Film Festival.

Top 30 Films
Watch the Top 30 Films on our A3F Vimeo page.

Results
Please download these pdf files to see the 2011 Results and Official Teams.