Furious filmmaking _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

With the clock steadily counting down, teams of film-mad creatives across the motu called lights, camera, action at 7pm on the 17^th of May. They embarked on furious filmmaking over the weekend, finally exclaiming the long-awaited “that’s a wrap” as the bell tolled 48 hours later on the 19^th.  

The Vista Foundation 48Hours is Aotearoa’s largest guerilla filmmaking competition, offering an exhilarating platform for both emerging and established creators to write, shoot, and edit a short film in just 48 hours. Adding to the mayhem, each year the teams are given a surprise genre and some random elements to incorporate – these have included lines of dialogue, props, characters, and special camera moves.

The 21^st annual competition saw over 570 teams register and 499 eligible films submitted. Wellington had the highest turnout in the country, cracking a new record for the capital with 181 teams. Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington City Finals will be held at the Embassy Theatre on the 5^th of July. Audiences can catch the top 15 films made in and around Pōneke and see which teams will move on to the national Grand Finals at the Embassy Theatre on the 27^th of July.

The judges for the Wellington regional finals include Vista Foundation 48Hours city manager Thomas Coppell, Mia Maramara, Armağan Ballantyne, Ben Powdrell, Ramon Te Wake, Rachel Fawcett, 2018 champion team Chillybox, Paloma Schneideman, Ngawaero Maniapoto, and Tihema Bennett.

“I was so impressed with our region this year. Across all sections of the competition: from our rangatahi school teams, to those unfortunate or fortunate enough to be nominated for Best Disqualified Team, to the city finalists themselves; everyone smashed it out the park,” Coppell beams. “This year will be one of the most competitive city finals in recent memory. If you want to see the inspiring potential in our new and emerging grassroots filmmakers and storytellers, you have to come along to our city finals event!”

Sound speeding, camera rolling – will you be at the 48Hours Welly city finals? Action!