The 48 Hour Film Project Debuts 48 New Films

Tonight and tomorrow, The Louisville 48 Hour Film Projectshows the on the big screen.Last weekend, 48 teams scrambled to produce a film in 48 hours. Each team had to choose a genre and include a specific character, prop and line, as the festival’s producer, Sheila Berman, explains."This year the character was a runner. Some people have a jogging runner. Someone else has someone who’s a runner in a kitchen. The prop is a wrench. And the line of dialogue is 'What about global warming?' So every team has to have those three elements in their film," she says.This is the third year the project has unleashed teams on the city. The first such project took place in Washington, D.C. in 2001.Berman, a local attorney, launched the festival as a way for local filmmakers to meet each other and see each other’s work. Berman says it’s helped build relationships that have extended beyond the festival."There definitely have been people who have met up in the audience at the film project who have gone on to work on various project together, which is great because the more you can get people collaborating, I think the better it is for the Louisville film community," she says.Berman says some teams consist of experienced filmmakers, while others are novices. The goal is to promote local filmmaking through a competition and festival. She says this baptism-by-fire approach to filmmaking also helps those interested in making films get started. The films will premier at Village 8 Theatres.