On a Friday night in the beginning of September, groups of filmmakers went to a studio in north Miami-Dade to get their assignments.
Each received two types of genres to focus on (they could pick one or combine the two). They each got a character name, the character’s occupation and lines of dialogue that needed to be included. Then they were turned loose with 48 hours to put it all together. A short film was due at 7:30 p.m. that Sunday.
The filmmakers were competing in the South Florida iteration of the global event the “48 Hour Film Project.” Finalists will be screened on Saturday, Sept. 28, with the winner going on to the international finals in Seattle. Seattle finalists earn a screening of their short in the Cannes Film Festival in France.
The 48-hour film screenings are one part of the Arts Accelerator Film Festival set for the Savor Cinema, Fort Lauderdale. In the evening, the festival screens the South Florida Filmmaker Showcase. For that, Arts Accelerator received more than 100 entries from local filmmakers. Six finalists will be screened and awards given. The festival also includes a networking event and a screenwriting masterclass.
“This is really a celebration of South Florida talent because we want people to know that there is talent here,” says Dana DellaCamera, the director of Arts Accelerator. “We’re here to serve the community; we need to highlight the community if we’re serving the community. We are a bridge from talent to discovery.”
As an organization, Arts Accelerator builds community and works to create situations where local film professionals can meet each other and make connections in an industry where personal relationships are crucial.
“Everything is who you know,” says DellaCamera. “When people work with you and they see you did a great job, they’re going to recommend you for the next job and the next job.”
That’s for the local filmmakers. For local film fans, the day’s two screenings represent a fun delve into how much filmmaking talent there is here.
“This year we had over 100 films submitted,” says DellaCamera. Whittling it down to six was not easy. “It really is a showcase of different genres, of different types of films. It really is a nice rounded, holistic view of film talent here.” Selected films include “Circles,” by Audie C Silcott and Jeffrey Creightney, “The Road Less Traveled” by Shanks Larsen, “I dreamt of this” by Esther by Nicole Santiago and Samuel Vargas, “Mechamorphosis” by Bowen Tan, “My Anxiety and Freediving” by Jesus Olarte and “#ladyfinger” by Andres Irias.
Arts Accelerator is also filming short documentaries about each film and plans to make all the films and corresponding documentaries into an omnibus that they can then seek out distribution.
“These are real opportunities for filmmakers,” says DellaCamera. “ We didn’t want to be involved in any film festival as the Arts Accelerator unless we could offer something tangible for filmmakers.”
The two screening events are naturally quite different. As you might expect, the 48-hour films have a certain DIY quality to them. But DellaCamera hopes attendees will come away from both with an appreciation for how much local filmmaking talent there is in our own backyard.
Participants in this year’s 48-hour project ranged from professionals to college students and their instructor to high school students. DellaCamera considers it vital to get that big community together and to let the wider community see what they can do.
“We are doing everything we can,” she says, “to unite the community and get everybody together.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “The Arts Accelerator Film Festival”
WHERE: Savor Cinema, 503 SE 6th St., Fort Lauderdale
WHEN: 1:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. The 48 Hour Film Project films begin screening at 1:30 p.m. and will screen in three blocks; South Florida Filmmaker Showcase films screen from 7 to 8 p.m. followed by an awards ceremony for both and an after party. A screenwriting masterclass runs from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and the industry networking event runs from 5 to 7 p.m.
TICKETS: $17.50 for each block of screenings or the awards. Full-day all-event tickets are available prior to the event for $45 and on the day for $65. Screenings-and-awards tickets are available for $40. Screenwriting masterclass tickets are $49. The networking event and afterparty are included for all ticket-holders.
INFORMATION: Call (954) 285-9243 or
http://artsaccelerator.org
