Rialto Channel encourages Kiwis to go ape and enter its 48HOURS filmmaking competition

Rialto Channel 48HOURS is back for 2015. Now in its 13th year, the renowned national gorilla filmmaking competition gets entries far and wide, from school students to semi-pro storytellers, to teams of mates who want to spend a mad 48 hours together going ape.

Registrations for New Zealand’s largest filmmaking competition open Monday March 9 at 10am. And in a first for Rialto Channel 48HOURS, teams who get in early to register will pay less than both last year and this year, meaning more money to spend on their shoot catering.

As the clock strikes 7pm on Friday, May 1, over 10,000 people will begin their 48 hour odyssey to write, shoot and edit a short film of up to 7 minutes, and put them in the running for Rialto Channel 48HOURS glory.

Tens of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes are on the line for the best of the best. Rialto Channel 48HOURS hands out the honours including Best High School Team, Direction, Actor & Actress, Rising Talent, and of course Grand National Champ – the best film in competition.

And with the ever-focused eyes of Sir Peter Jackson looking over the films, he’ll again pick just a few shorts to be his Wildcard films, which automatically go into the Grand Final as nominees for Grand National Champ (best short film).

Says team Lense Flare, 2014 Grand National Champ winner: “We’ve done 48Hours six times now and every time it’s been a unique, incredible experience – with literally blood, sweat & tears. It is an amazing sleepless weekend with mates and it’s incredible to start the weekend with nothing and 2 days later have a fully finished (usually) film. AAA+ competition!”

As always, Rialto Channel 48HOURS is about unearthing the next great storytellers of NZ and igniting their passion for filmmaking. There is a good chance they are still likely to still be at school. To help encourage more than just 1 team to enter from a school, all school teams from around New Zealand get two team entries for the price of one.

–              Early-bird registration, 10am, Monday, March 9 – $179 including gst

–              General registration, 10am, Monday, March 30 – $219 including gst

–              Shoot weekend, 7pm, Friday, May 1 to 7pm Sunday, May 3

To view last year’s winner and other Rialto Channel 48HOURS short films, click here.