Instant Films

On Friday, June 5, more than 70 teams of filmmakers gathered at Webster University's Moore Auditorium. None of them had any idea what their next film was going to be about. There were no scripts, no plots and nary a title in mind. So each team pulled an individual film genre out of a hat, and then all teams were instructed to include a specific character, prop and line of dialogue in their film. Each team then had 48 hours to make a short film incorporating all of those elements. The 48 Hour Film Project isn't for the easily panicked, you see. What comes out of it are seat-of-the-pants, low-budget, high-imagination films, and tonight at the Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; www.48hourfilm.com/stlouis), 24 of the completed films are screened at 7 p.m. (Group E) and 9:15 p.m. (Group F). Tickets are $7 per screening, which is like 29 cents a film — that's a Roger Corman-level of bargain right there.
Thu., June 11, 2009